The Ross Fire surged past 50,000 acres in Palo Pinto County on Monday and was still only 8% contained, forcing mandatory and recommended evacuations in nearby Jack County as crews raced to slow a blaze moving through dry, searing conditions.
That is why the fire is being watched so closely now: it is growing while firefighters are still trying to box it in. Air drops were used after planes dipped into nearby reservoirs, and crews with fire trucks carried out defensive work on ranch land along FM 4, but the combination of steady northeasterly wind, extreme heat and dry ground kept pushing the flames forward.
For Katie Dean, the fire was not a map update. She said the sheriff’s department told her family to leave in the morning, and they loaded around 60 goats and other animals into a trailer to get them out. “I was panicking, but trying to keep it together for her so I didn’t scare the animals and whatnot,” Dean said, adding, “We did not have a great fire evacuation plan going.”
The Ross Fire began Monday afternoon just west of the town of Palo Pinto, and the latest figures from the Texas A&M Forest Service show how quickly it has spread. The fire is part of a wider outbreak, with smaller wildfires also burning in Wise, Parker and Hamilton counties, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant to help fight the Ross Fire and Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas would provide all necessary resources to protect Texans in Palo Pinto and Jack Counties.
The hardest detail may be the one still missing: how many structures have been damaged beyond the catastrophic loss reported at Worth Ranch, where the Longhorn Council said the campground sustained catastrophic damage even though no scouts, campers or guests were on the property and all camp personnel were safely evacuated. The cause of the fires also remains under investigation, and until the fire line holds, the next update is likely to be measured less by what burned than by whether crews can stop it from spreading farther.
