DEMPSEY FIRE: Officials say numerous structures threatened but saved

Jul. 8—PALO PINTO COUNTY — Local and state fire crews rescued 124 homes and 141 buildings threatened by the Dempsey Fire in a nearly two-week battle that consumed more than 11,000 acres, officials reported Friday.

A cause has yet to be fully known, Texas A&M Fire Service Officer Adam Turner said.

"We have not determined a specific cause, other than that it was human-caused," said Turner, who is stationed in Mineral Wells.

No injuries were reported from the wildfire, and Turner said a barn and two out-buildings were razed.

"But no houses were lost," he said, adding 17 "commercial buildings" and an "oil infrastructure gas plant" were among structures threatened but saved.

"We did have four heat-related (firefighter) injuries," he said. "But those were all handled on the scene."

County Judge Shane Long said a preliminary estimate puts the cost of the fire to state and local resources at $3.8 million.

"All in all," he said, "We were very blessed with the rain at a good time — that helped us out. And I can't say enough — we had a great response from the state."

Flames that drove residents from homes in northwestern Palo Pinto County were 100 percent contained after the Dempsey Fire raged 11 days and drew fire crews from surrounding counties.

The Texas A&M Forest Service was reporting Thursday that no injuries or structure damages were known from the fire, which began June 23 and leapt the Brazos River in two places as it raced north toward Graford.

The fire chewed up 11,598 acres before it was fully contained.

A cause is being investigated, Palo Pinto County Emergency Coordinator Mistie Garland said earlier this week.

And summer is just getting started. Dry, often windy conditions continue to set the table for more wildfires.

"That is true," Garland said. "We just need to be more aware. Conditions are dry, and that will continue until we get rain."

Burn bans remain in effect for Palo Pinto and Parker counties — and every county surrounding them except Jack County. There are currently 195 counties in the state with burn bans, according to the TAFS.

There were eight active wildfires listed Friday on the forest service website, the nearest to the area being the Hard Castle Fire in Bosque County. That blaze, south of Granbury, was affecting 600 acres and was 45 percent contained as of press time.

The Dempsey Fire at one point prompted Palo Pinto County Sheriff Brett McGuire to call the state prison system and local school districts asking for buses in case he had to evacuate the county jail.

"The bottom line is the folks in my facility, regardless of what they're accused of doing or not doing, they are in my care," McGuire said at the time.

Garland reported to commissioners in late June that crews from Parker, Erath, Montague, Young, Jack and other counties helped with the Dempsey Fire.

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index map on Thursday showed nearly all of Parker and Palo Pinto counties in the 600 to 700 range on its scale of zero to 800. That same day, TAFS firefighters responded to 12 new wildfires that burned 149 acres.

In the month of July alone, TAFS has responded to 45 fires that have burned a total of almost 21,900 acres thus far.