Four dead in wind-driven fires across Texas

CROSS PLAINS (AP) Linda and Kenneth Dixson put their 1920s renovated farmhouse on the market a few months ago but recently turned down a potential buyer's offer, deciding they really didn't want to leave the quaint tan house on seven acres.

But Wednesday, a day after an outof control grass fire ravaged about 90 structures and thousands of acres in this rural town, Linda Dixson returned to all that was left of her dream home that had been filled with new furniture: a charred, smoldering heap.

When the couple evacuated with their daughter, 11-year-old grandson and another relative, they only had time to grab a few pictures and their pets.

“We didn't take any clothes, and now it's all gone,” Kenneth Dixson said Wednesday night while eating at First Baptist Church, where the American Red Cross set up a shelter. “I didn't want to go back out there today. I just didn't want to see it again.”

More than 70 fires have swept across parts of drought-stricken north and central Texas since Tuesday, killing at least four people, destroying nearly 100 buildings and scorching more than 13,000 acres in 20 counties. Texas Gov. Rick Perry planned to survey the Cross Plains damage by air Thursday.

Two of those killed were elderly women trapped in their homes by the fire, said Cross Plains Fire Chief Bob Harrell.

Mattie Faye Wilson, 67, taught several generations of Cross Plains firstgraders before her retirement, said Debbie Gosnell, a city administrator.

“She could yodel; she could play instruments,” Gosnell said of Wilson, who lived alone. “She was a really sweet woman.”

Maudie Sheppard, a bedridden 89-year-old, lived with her son, who was not home when the fires started, neighbors said. By the time Sheppard's son rushed home to try and save her, it was too late.

Another woman died in Cooke County, near the TexasOklahoma border, after she apparently fell while helping her husband pour water on the grass around their house, said Mike Murphree, a division chief for the Gainesville Fire Department. Murphree said he did not know the cause of death. The Dallas Morning News and the Gainesville Daily Register identified the woman as 63-year-old Elena Morrison of Gainesville.

The state Department of Emergency Management said there were four deaths but did not have details on the fourth fatality.

Remnants of several of the burned-out Cross Plains houses still smoldered Wednesday evening, blanketing the air with a smoky haze and burning odor.

The First United Methodist Church was destroyed along with several pre-World War II brick-and-wood row houses on the town's Main Street. A front brick wall and part of a side wall were left standing, but the church's steeple was on the ground Wednesday among the sooty rubble. The church's marquee sign read: “God is with Cross Plains.”

Mayor Ray Purvis, who was born and raised in Cross Plains, described his 1,070-resident working-class town about 115 miles west of Fort Worth as “very close-knit.” Built on farming, ranching and oil and gas, the town is best known as a hunters' designation and the hometown of Robert E. Howard, author of “Conan the Barbarian.”

Many residents grabbed hoses and soaked their neighbors' yards and homes as the flames approached or helped in other ways, without being asked.

Ron Bagley rushed to his friend Alan Key's house, watered the grass until the blaze moved toward him and then was able to get Key's two frantic horses in a trailer and drive them to his own barn. Key arrived home a short time later to find his house totally engulfed, but said he was relieved that his horses were safe.

When the Dixsons evacuated, they left behind five classic cars. But a friend who owns an automotive shop drove his wrecker to the Dixsons' house and pulled the cars away from the fire, and they were unscathed.

It's unclear how the Cross Plains fire started, although some residents said they heard it began with someone flicking a cigarette out of a car window onto the crunchy, brown grass.

Severe drought, wind gusting to 40 mph and temperatures reaching the low 80s set the stage for Tuesday's fires in Texas and Oklahoma.

Firefighters working to control a 10,000-acre grass fire in Oklahoma's Hughes County Wednesday found the body of a man killed in the blaze. At least 50 homes in Oklahoma were destroyed in fires that charred 21 counties since Tuesday.

The National Weather Service predicted no rain for the rest of the year and a return of the hazardous windy and hot conditions on Saturday – prompting fears that New Year's fireworks could spark another round of fires.