Large grass fire sparks in southwest Fort Worth; Palo Pinto fire continues to burn

A large grass fire that sparked in southwest Fort Worth on Wednesday afternoon didn't cause any structural damage, the Fort Worth Fire Department said.

During the hours-long fight to control the flames, no structures were ever in danger, Capt. Kyle Falkner added.

The fire, near the 7900 block of Old Granbury Road — close to Benbrook Lake — was first reported just after 3 p.m., but details of who called in the fire and how large the blaze was when firefighters first arrived weren’t immediately available.

Falkner said the fire was quickly escalated to a third alarm, meaning additional brush trucks, engines, ladder companies, battalion chiefs and support units were summoned.

"We also requested a Tarrant County strike team, and they're here assisting as well," he said. Close to 50 units were involved by the end of it, he said.

As of 6:30 p.m., no injuries were reported in the fire.

"This has just been a very fast-moving fire through this dry grass; it's taken a lot of resources," he said. "The fire was spread out a large distance; at points there was over a mile of fire."

The fire department reported the fire was contained by about 9:30 p.m.

About 70 miles west of Fort Worth, firefighters continued fighting a wildfire in Palo Pinto, which has burned more than 3,200 acres since Monday. It was declared 40 percent contained on Wednesday morning.

The fire neared the Boy Scouts' Worth Ranch on Tuesday evening, but a changing wind direction moved it back, said John Coyle, scout executive.

"We’re not totally out of danger,” he said on Wednesday. “Things can always change.”

The camp’s aquatic school is still scheduled for this Sunday, but Coyle said the scouts will re-evaluate whether they should move the school to a different location later this week.

For now, he urges anyone to stay away from the property, which includes a home where the scouts' full-time ranger lives, a dining hall that seats 400 people, a double swimming pool and a museum. Some of the buildings date to the 1930s, he said.

“There are a lot of iconic buildings out there,” Coyle said. "They were mostly built out of stone, and we’ve placed metal roofs on them. I guess we’re trying to make them fire resistant.”

Changing weather conditions from Tuesday to Wednesday might have helped contain the fire.

Ted Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said it was about 5 degrees cooler on Wednesday versus Tuesday, and the humidity was higher.

"Yesterday the humidity was about 15 percent, and today it's around 30 percent, 28 percent," he said. "Humidity makes a big difference; with moisture in the air, it is harder for fires to spread."

However, winds began to blow in a different direction Wednesday.

"It has been out of the south," Ryan said. "Fires get kind of elongated and (flames) travel with the wind. Today it's out of the east, so any hot spots now have access to unburned grass, so now it could spread to the west. So the wind is not exactly helping today."

At least four counties surrounding Tarrant County approved disaster declarations before the Independence Day holiday, including Palo Pinto.

The declarations prohibit the use, but not the sale, of fireworks within the counties' borders for 60 hours, a period that includes the July Fourth holiday.

Hood County officials also issued a disaster declaration Tuesday, asking the public to report illegal fireworks use to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office by calling 817-579-3316. Anyone who violates the declaration faces a $500 fine.

This story was originally published July 4, 2018 at 5:12 PM.