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Wildfire north of Huntsville grows to nearly 4,300 acres as evacuation orders lifted
Officials urge residents in the area to still use caution as they work to suppress the fire.
WALKER COUNTY, Texas — Evacuation orders have been lifted as the Game Preserve Fire continues to burn north of Huntsville.
The Texas A&M Forest Service lifted the orders Sunday morning as nearly 4,300 acres continued to burn. Officials said the fire remains 40% contained.
Editorial note: The above video aired prior to evacuation orders being lifted.
The Walker County Office of Emergency Management said no homes in several subdivisions had been lost as of Saturday night. All road closures around the fire have been lifted as well.
Daniel Patterson with the Texas A&M Forest Service said at around 5 p.m. on Saturday that the fire was threatening structures, but it was unclear how many. He said no civilian nor firefighter injuries have been reported.
Patterson asked people to be cautious with anything that could start a fire during the holiday weekend.
Crews were working on Saturday to slow the spread of the fire using backburns and bulldozers.
“This is a common firefighting technique to burn off the vegetation,” Patterson said. “So when the fire comes through, it runs into an area that’s already burned, there’s nothing there to burn.”
Due to the fire’s size, an incident management team from Florida took over the response on Saturday. Officials said it could take several days to get the fire completely contained.