Friday, March 29, 2024

Evacuations, warnings and billowing clouds of smoke

Posted

Evacuations, warnings and billowing clouds of smoke weighed heavily on Coryell County residents as a trio of grass fires on Fort Hood merged into one large fire and threatened area homes.

The fire, dubbed the Crittenden Complex fire, scorched more than 33,000 acres and officials ordered the community of Flat to be evacuated on Sunday afternoon. By late Sunday evening, Flat residents were able to return home.

Firefighters from several local departments, along with personnel from Fort Hood and the Texas A&M Forest Service battled the blaze.

Meanwhile, the local 9-1-1 system was overwhelmed by people calling to ask about the fires. Gatesville and Fort Gates were not evacuated, and the Gatesville fire and police departments posted messages on their Facebook page updating residents.

"Gatesville and Fort Gates are not being evacuated!" stated a post on the Gatesville Police Facebook page. "The fires around us are on Fort Hood Base, Comanche County and Bosque County. Please do not call the police department and ask. If you have a need for police, fire, or EMS, then do not hesitate to call, otherwise if there are notices to be sent for a larger population, we will use CODE RED, and social media platforms as well as personnel to make the announcements. Our phone lines are being inundated with calls asking about evacuations which is inhibiting our communications officers from handling the emergency calls."

The Gatesville Civic Center, Coryell Community Church, New Oasis Worship Center and Righteous Roots were among the locations that had been opened to welcome those who had been ordered to evacuate their homes.

Dry conditions and high winds elevated the fire dangers. The state's drought monitor indicates that while most of Central Texas was experiencing at least extreme drought conditions, Coryell, Hamilton and Bosque counties were labeled as being in exceptional drought conditions – an even more dangerous level.

A post from the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Hood stated:

Fort Hood DES fire personnel along with supporting civilian and military units continued firefighting operations March 27 to suppress and contain the Fort Hood range fires.

The fire did jump East Range Road earlier in the day and fire crews aggressively responded to that threat.

“Through the use of both air and ground assets from federal, state and local authorities the immediate threat to civilian homes and personnel in Flat, Texas, has been mitigated,” Col. Chad Foster, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Hood, said.

“We are grateful for all the support Fort Hood is currently receiving from firefighting and law enforcement agencies. Through this cooperative effort, I do believe we will be ultimately successful in putting these fires out," he said.

“I would ask that everyone avoid the northeast area of the post as the firefighting operations are ongoing and we need to keep those roads clear so military and emergency vehicles can respond appropriately.”

Firefighting capabilities include water airdrops by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service aircraft along with military and Texas A&M Forest Service bulldozers and personnel conducting offensive and defensive operations to suppress and contain the fires.

East and West Range Roads are currently closed with only military and emergency services vehicles allowed access.

As more information becomes available, updates will be published on Fort Hood Press Center www.forthoodpresscenter.com and on the Garrison Fort Hood Facebook page.