Thousands of hectares of land in Palo Pinto County have been evacuated, officials say.
The fire, dubbed Dempsey Fire, consumed 6,500 acres[12,500 acres]of rural areas west of Wales and burned 12 percent, Texas A&M Forest Service said Friday night.
“All parts of the fire are active. Workers are focused on safety, structural protection and the establishment of container lines,” said the Forest Service.
The Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Office said they would be encouraged to evacuate north of US 180, south of Texas 254, farming to Market 4 east and Texas 337 west.
“As the temperature of the Dempsi fire increased in the afternoon, there was a great deal of fire activity, the fire pushed northwest and the Brazos River and FM Red jumped,” Mineral Wells Fire and EMS wrote on Facebook.
The sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page that the city of Graford should be prepared to leave.
Donations can be made to Palo Pinto VFD at 620 Oak Street in Palo Pinto.
The Welsh Fire Department said additional firefighting equipment could be dropped off at 914 a.m. to 2 p.m. Items required include:
- Water
- Sports drinks
- Eye drops
- Advil / Tylenol
- Chapstick
- Indestructible snacks (protein / carbohydrates)
- Wet-wipes
