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Texas, Oklahoma assess fire toll

Bernice Alvarez, center, cups the face of her daughter, Gerrianne Patterson, as the two look at the remains of Alvarez's Arlington, Texas, home, which was destroyed by the wildfires raging across Texas and Oklahoma. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Sheila Flynn Associated Press
Bernice Alvarez, center, cups the face of her daughter, Gerrianne Patterson, as the two look at the remains of Alvarez's Arlington, Texas, home, which was destroyed by the wildfires raging across Texas and Oklahoma. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

CROSS PLAINS, Texas – By the time the smoke cleared Wednesday, more than 100 homes across wildfire-stricken Texas and Oklahoma lay in ruins and at least five people were dead, including two elderly women trapped in their homes by the flames.

The hardest-hit community during Tuesday’s blazes was Cross Plains, a West Texas ranching and oil-and-gas town of 1,000 people some 150 miles from Dallas. Cross Plains also lost about 50 homes and a church after the flames raced through grass dried out by the region’s worst drought in 50 years.

Two elderly women there were killed after being trapped in their homes, said Sparky Dean, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

Another woman died in Cooke County, near the Oklahoma border, after she apparently fell while helping her husband pour water on the grass around their house, said Mike Murphree, a division chief for the Gainesville Fire Department. He did not know how she died.

No information was immediately available on the fourth death in Texas. A fifth person was killed in Yeager, Okla., where fire destroyed eight homes.

“We had a tornado here years ago and we thought that was devastating. This lasted for hours and hours,” said Patricia Cook, a special education aide whose Cross Plains home was saved by her 18-year-old son, J.D., and a friend. They saw the flames approaching the house from across a field and ran to save it.

“The fire was literally nipping at their heels,” she said. “He just picked up the hose and started watering things down.”

All together, the grass fires destroyed more than 100 buildings across Texas, including 78 homes, the state emergency management agency said. About 50 homes have been destroyed in Oklahoma, authorities said.

Wind gusting to 40 mph drove the flames across nearly 20,000 acres in the two states. At least 73 blazes were reported in Texas over two days, and dozens more broke out in Oklahoma.

Fires were still smoldering Wednesday in four Texas counties. One new fire broke out Wednesday in an isolated area of eastern Oklahoma but was quickly contained.

Severe drought set the stage for the fires, which authorities believe were started mostly by people shooting off fireworks, tossing cigarettes or burning trash in spite of bans imposed because of the drought. A fallen power line apparently started one Oklahoma blaze.