POSSUM KINGDOM LAKE, Texas (AP) — Residents of a subdivision in a parched North Texas wilderness area didn't hesitate when ordered to flee an advancing wildfire, and dozens who were hemmed in by flames blocking the road out escaped by boat without a single major injury, authorities said Wednesday.
The wildfire that swept through the Possum Kingdom Lake neighborhood on Tuesday — one of several burning in Texas and Oklahoma — destroyed 25 homes in the upscale subdivision and turned the normally lush landscape into a blackened mess. Some streets were virtually untouched, with homes fronted by lawns that could double as putting greens, but others were reduced to rows of scorched stone fireplaces and twisted metal frames.
"It's devastating, of course, and it's going to take a while to get over, but we're going to carry on," Palo Pinto County Sheriff Ira Mercer said.
Only hotspots remained Wednesday in the subdivision, which was the only one not affected by wildfires that roared through the Possum Kingdom Lake area in the spring, scorching hundreds of thousands of acres and destroying 160 homes. The most recent fire had burned some 5,100 acres, further devastating the popular vacation spot about 75 miles west of Fort Worth.
Texas and Oklahoma are in the grips of a record-setting drought, and a summer of soaring temperatures and little rain has meant the wildfire season, which usually ends in spring, didn't end this year.
Mercer said that unlike April, when residents had to be told three or four times before they'd leave the area, those whose homes were threatened Tuesday left as soon as they were told.
Flames blocked the road leading out of the subdivision and hemmed in a group of several dozen residents and law enforcement officers, so they turned back and escaped by boat on Possum Kingdom Lake, Mercer said. It took about six or seven trips, but everyone escaped safely, even if some of them left with frayed nerves, he said.
"A little old lady was just shaking. These people were leaving with just the clothes on their backs, and they don't know what's going to happen to their homes and their stuff," Mercer said.
Kathy Lanpher, whose home in Gaines Bend burned down in April, told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram that she grabbed her dog and laptop, left her new condo behind and drove to the lake, where she made it to safety on a pontoon boat. She said she was among some 50 residents who decamped to The Harbor Restaurant for the night.
"We're watching the smoke. We're right around the corner from the fire, so we can't look straight at it," she said. "We're all in good spirits, keeping our fingers crossed and saying our prayers. It's tough to go through this twice in one year."
In Oklahoma City, Deputy Fire Chief Marc Woodard said that a flyover Wednesday showed that a wildfire burned some 3,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes on the city's outskirts. He said four homes appeared to have been damaged but were salvageable.
"We're just kind of in the mop up stages. We'll be here the rest of the afternoon, probably into the night."
Fire Chief Keith Bryant said he was concerned that Wednesday's windy, dry weather could re-ignite hot spots.
"The conditions are similar to what they were yesterday. The winds are going to get up, they're already gusting. That'll be our concern on the fires that are still smoldering."
Red Cross spokesman Rust Surette said several hundred homes had been evacuated.
Blowing embers likely started the blaze, which was largely under control by late Tuesday night. Battalion Chief Felton Morgan said.
Emergency Medical Services Authority spokeswoman Lara O'Leary said four people, including two firefighters, were treated for minor injuries in the Oklahoma City blaze. John Nichols, a spokesman for the Texas Forest Service, said at least three people were slightly hurt, including two firefighters fighting the blaze in the Possum Kingdom Lake area.
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Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Sean Murphy and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City; and Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
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