EASTLAND, TX — Parts of Eastland, Callahan and Brown Counties were impacted by out of control wildfires. Volunteer fire departments from across the Big Country region have responded.
Late Thursday (March 17) before dark, videos and images emerged of fires raging in the town of Ranger just east of Eastland. The old police station and a baptist church were fully engulfed. By 10:55 p.m. Thursday night, Drive Texas updated its map of closed highways in the region. The road closures follow a distinct line of fire lines raging southward with the winds out of the northwest. Texas Highway 6 was closed from Eastland to De Leon. FM 2214 was closed from Lake Leon to Desdemona. US 183 was closed through the town of Rising Star.
The fires, labeled the Eastland Fire Complex, consists of five moving fire lines as of early Friday morning. One crossed (and closed) TX 206 Thursday night and is headed southeast between Cross Plains and Rising Star. Another line is located just south of Rising Star traveling southeasterly across US 183. Three fire lines, spanning 13.3 miles wide, emerged around the town of Carbon and were headed towards Gorman. The fire lines headed towards Gorman are reported by the Texas Fire Service is containing 38,383 acres and none of it was contained as of 1 a.m. Friday (March 18).
Texas Storm Chasers Map
Smoke from the fires was impacting travel along I-20 from TX-16 and westward through Clyde.
The town of Rising Star was ordered evacuated by their fire department late Thursday night. Residents were encouraged to travel to Cross Plains, Cisco or Comanche for shelter.
To follow the fire, watch the Rising Star Small Talk Facebook Group, Eastland County Today on Facebook, and the Texas A&M Forest Service on Twitter.
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