By Scott Harvey
– Several local firefighters are home safely after returning from battling wildfires in West Texas.
Strike Team 202 was demobilized Friday. Brush Truck 2, staffed by Commerce fighters Josh Cato and Joe Martello, along with personnel from Greenville, Plano and Wylie were back home by the weekend. They had been fighting fires near Ozona, about 90 minutes southwest of San Angelo.
Meanwhile, extremely critical conditions fueled wildfire flare-ups in the South Plains and Trans-Pecos of West Texas yesterday. The so-called Gage Holland fire west of Alpine prompted Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson to evacuate a subdivision west of the city limits and close U.S. 67/90 between Alpine and Marfa. No structures have been lost at last report and the fire was being fought from the ground and from the air.
Crews were also fighting the nearly 35,000-acre Dickens County Complex of wildfires about 70 miles east of Lubbock. It is unclear if other local fire crews will be dispatched to provide assistance out west in the days ahead.