Tagged: Wildfires

The first suit has been filed against Bluebonnet Electric Co-op over the Bastrop County Complex wildfire.  The Texas Forest Service has isolated two of the fire's origin points to trees that knocked Bluebonnet power lines into dry brush.

Attorney Bill Rossick is representing three homeowners who lost their houses in the wildfire. He claims that Co-op management knew the danger of downed power lines in these conditions as early as their annual meeting in May.

Good morning and happy Sunday!  Looking for relief from the heat may be the most popular activity in Central Texas today. Fall officially began early Friday morning, but today's weather will be a continuation of the summertime heat.

Fire Danger High Today

UPDATED 1:55 pm: The full Texas Forest Service report on the cause of the Bastrop Fire is available here.

Earlier: The 34,000-acre Bastrop Fire was "most likely electrical" in nature.  The Texas Forest Service has concluded its investigation into the blaze that destroyed more than 1,500 homes and claimed two lives.

The fire began on Labor Day, when wind speeds were gusting to 40 miles an hour and relative humidity was down to 10 percent.

TFS released the cause of the blaze but not a copy of the investigation report. KUT News has filed an Open Records Request to obtain the information. TFS has up to ten business days to respond. 

The Texas Forest Service says the Bastrop the fire is 95 percent contained.

Firefighting efforts are winding down in Bastrop County as crews finally tame the restless blaze that has blackened 34,000 acres. No fire is burning outside the containment lines. The blaze is now considered 80 percent contained.

Weather over the next few days is “becoming our friend,” Bastrop County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Fisher said, noting that wind speeds and temperatures are lower while humidity is above 50 percent.

“We’re beginning to see sort of the end of this,” Fisher said.

For 17 years, Linda and Roger Ward lived in their two-story dream house in a subdivision in Bastrop County, southeast of Austin, Texas. They loved to sit on their back deck and listen to the wind in the pines.

On the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 4, everything changed.