Texas chief to visit scorched landscape

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is traveling today to the fire-ravaged town of Cross Plains, where more than 70 buildings were destroyed by grass fires Tuesday night, a spokeswoman for Perry said.

In addition to meeting with local officials, Perry will also take a helicopter tour of the destruction and then meet with displaced residents now staying at the Cross Plains First Baptist Church, said the spokeswoman, Kathy Walt.

On Tuesday Perry issued a statewide disaster declaration and ordered the deployment of state firefighters and equipment in response to the wind-driven fires, which have so far devoured an estimated 20,000 acres in North Texas and Oklahoma. More than 100 buildings were destroyed and five people were killed, The Associated Press reported.

According to the National Weather Service, the fires were driven by a combination of extremely warm and dry air, strong winds, dormant vegetation and a continuing drought. Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fires, including some in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which they believe were started by people shooting off fireworks, tossing cigarettes or burning trash.

No place was affected as hard as Cross Plains, an oil and ranching town of about 1,000 people about 150 miles southwest of Dallas. After a night of intense heat, wind and flames that threatened most homes and businesses, residents awoke Wednesday morning to a scarred town, with at least two residents dead and 7,600 acres of scorched earth -- much of it still smoldering.

"As we came back into town this morning, the pastures were black, there were smoking hay bales and smoldering trees," said Vicki Dillard, a 47-year-old floral designer whose husband ordered her to flee. "It looks like a war zone here."

Firefighters from 31 departments fought all day Tuesday and into the night, trying to save homes and businesses and hold back the fire.

"The wind was so strong and the air was filled with choking smoke," said Lt. Greg Goettsch, a public information officer for the Abilene Fire Department. "Even video doesn't do it justice. You couldn't see anything. It reminded me of when volcanoes are erupting. It looked like midnight in the middle of the afternoon."

Firefighters, many of whom are volunteers worried about the safety of their own families, brought the fires under control around midnight, Goettsch said.

"Nothing else was lost after midnight," he said. About a third of the town had burned down, he added.

On Tuesday afternoon while Dillard hung laundry outside, she saw a "big black ball of smoke" barreling toward her ranch.

"At first I thought it was a tornado, it was so big and moving so fast," she said. "It was out in the country and it was coming toward town, fast."

Dillard's husband, Dean, told her to get out of town, so she grabbed some photo albums and left.

"It's a sad day here," Dillard said. "They're still searching for bodies."

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