Nursing Home Evacuated as Fires Burn Thousands of Acres in Texas

The Texas Forest Service and local volunteer firefighters battled huge grassfires propelled by dry, windy conditions in Scurry County last week.

A 3,000-acre fire near Snyder, a 2,000-acre blaze north of the city and a 10- to 15-acre fire near Scurry County Airport were among five being fought simultaneously from the air and the ground on Feb. 23, said Nick Harrison, a forest service spokesman in Granbury, Texas.

No injuries were immediately reported, but at least three structures were damaged.

A nursing home and Western Texas College in Snyder were evacuated.

One of the larger fires was started by a transformer explosion, and the fire near the airport was sparked by power lines, Harrison said.

Harrison warned that the state would face critical fire danger throughout much of the week and urged residents to be vigilant.

“Texas got a lot of rain last year so we’ve got an abundance of grasses … ready to burn,” he said.

Snyder is about 235 miles west of Fort Worth.