WASHINGTON COUNTY, Texas — The Burns Creek fire broke out near the Lake Somerville area on August 7 and quickly spread to 100 acres of land.
On August 8, the fire had grown to approximately 300 acres. There have been efforts to extinguish the fire by the Texas A&M Forest Service, as well as a number of fire departments from Washington County.
As reported by the Rocky Creek Volunteer Fire Department, several homes were destroyed in the fire, located south of Rocky Creek Park off of FM 1948. Residents of Deep Water subdivision were asked to evacuate.
According to the Washington County Office of Emergency Management, the fire was 10% contained as of August 7.
The Texas A&M Forest Service's Incident Commander Steven Willingham said the fire was 50% contained on August 8.
Willingham stated that approximately 20 homes were evacuated from the area in order to ensure that the residents were protected from the fire in the event that it was to spread to their properties.
“We can keep a small, you know, get a stop on it before it gets into neighborhoods, we minimize losses,” said Willingham.
Willingham stated that it is unclear when the fire will be completely contained and when residents will be able to return home.
