Pine Pond Fire in Bastrop County grows to 700 acres, 20% contained
The size of a wildfire in Bastrop County initially believed to have been 320 acres on Thursday night has doubled to 700 acres after fire officials completed a comprehensive mapping of the blaze’s perimeter during daytime hours on Friday, the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management said.
“As a reminder, calculating acreage in the preliminary stages of a fire response is always subject to change as it is an ever-evolving situation,” the Emergency Management Office said in an update Friday afternoon. By 4:30 p.m. Friday, the Pine Pond Fire was 20% contained.
The blaze's forward movement has been stopped, but firefighters are allowing fires within the permitter to burn so the vegetation fueling the blaze is destroyed.
The blaze — which ignited around 3 p.m. Thursday in the 500 block of Old Antioch Road north of Buescher State Park and about 11 miles east of Bastrop — forced residents along Turkey Trot Lane, Turkey Roost Lane, Old Antioch Road, Rolling Pines Drive, East Broken Tree Lane, Tall Pines Road and Agget Road to evacuate. Those residents were kept away from their homes for several hours, but they were allowed to return to their properties before midnight Thursday.
Officials said Friday there were no reported injuries and no homes had been burned.
Within about five hours after the initial reports of the fire, the blaze grew from 5 acres to 320 acres, officials estimated, as Bastrop County is under severe drought. Dense vegetation and shifting winds contributed to the fire’s progression, officials said.
At 9:45 p.m. Thursday, officials allowed evacuated residents with homes along Tall Pines and Agget roads to return to their properties. Two hours later, all other residents who were evacuated were allowed to return home.
“Law enforcement will only allow people who reside in the area to enter at this time in order to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads and ensure the safety of firefighters in the area,” the emergency management office announced just before midnight Thursday. “In the unanticipated event that the weather drastically changes from the current forecast or a change in the anticipated fire behavior, a future evacuation may be necessary. However, at this time we do not believe that will happen and it is safe to return to your residences.”
As of Friday morning, there were about 150 firefighters working to extinguish the blaze with more firefighting resources expected to arrive, officials said. As firefighters built containment lines, at least one airplane was dropping fire retardant to help contain the blaze.
Agencies helping fight the blaze include the Heart of Pines Volunteer Fire Department, the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department, Bastrop County Emergency Services District No. 2, the Bastrop Fire Department, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas A&M Forest Service.
Officials on Friday had not released a cause for the fire.
A preliminary map of the Pine Pond Fire, released by the Texas A&M Forest Service, shows the blaze has reached the western edge of the Luecke Farm, where in 2015 a wildfire that ignited on that property burned nearly 4,600 acres and destroyed 64 homes.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Pine Pond Fire in Bastrop County grows to 700 acres
