Tonight on K View News at 5:00
o'clock we are bringing you coverage
of the Rolling Pines wildfire as it
continues to burn in Bastrop County.
It started yesterday afternoon outside
Bastrop State Park in the same
area as the 2011 Bastrop complex.
Fire crews are working to
contain that fire and our cave.
You team is working to bring you the
latest information as crews battle.
That fire and talking about how it's
impacting people who live in Bastrop.
Brian Mays, Dominique Newland
and Pamela Comb.
All in Bastrop this afternoon will get to
Dominique and Pamela in just a few minutes.
Let's start with Brian who is live
in Bastrop State Park, Bryant.
Describe for us what you're seeing there.
Well, actually we're standing just
West of where this all began yesterday
at about 10:30 in the morning.
With that prescribed burn.
Of course, it's now extended
to more than 800 acres.
Let's talk about the good news that
we learned earlier this afternoon.
Still no residential structures
have burned in this fire.
Still no injuries have been reported,
but I had a chance to drive up Hwy
21 just to our NE to see some of
the flames still burning there.
We watched as a small small fire
became a pretty big flame over the
course of about 15 minutes earlier.
So there's still a lot of work to do,
and I have to tell you,
we watched the firefighters doing
their job today and it's amazing
what they've done to keep this
fire away from those structures.
You could literally see homes
and businesses just mere feet
from where this line is,
but yet all untouched at this time,
so that's the good news.
The bad news is it's not contained yet.
Still, the containment at about 30%.
We expect that to go up significantly as
we work through the evening hours tonight,
but we are expecting a weather change.
And they're also preparing for
that here in Bastrop County.
Good day now.
I mentioned Hwy 21,
which is again just to our North
East and Dominic Newland has
been there this afternoon.
Checking
out the scene as well. She joins us
now live with the very latest from
where that line of fire still
exists this evening, Dominique.
Hey there Brian,
we are off of Hwy 21 right now.
This highway is actually now open to the pub.
We are now open as the highway
is now open to the public.
As you can see, drivers already taking
advantage of that if you go behind us,
you can actually see that
some smoke out there.
That fire is still burning.
Fire officials being sure
to try to contain this.
Rolling Pines fire,
but something new this morning that
I do want to point out is Bastrop
County Emergency Services have
announced that some residents in the
county are now able to return to
their homes effective immediately,
as well as utility services
have been restored in all of the
areas that have been evacuated.
Now do keep in mind this is just for
residents that live in northwest of Hwy 21,
such as Circle D Estates
and Casey Estates areas.
Officials are holding off on allowing
residents in the Pine Hills Estates
loop to go back until 6:00 PM now.
Fire officials are keeping the
high wind gusts expected still
in mind going forward.
Overnight and into tomorrow.
We're probably going to have
some pretty strong gusts and
some pretty strong sustained
winds in most of Bastrop County,
so you're going to see some fire.
You're going to see some smoke tomorrow.
You're going to see the smoke plume
move in a different direction.
It'll be headed to the South
rather than the north,
but I assure you that we will have
a firefighters and 1st responders
on on duty all night long tonight
and all day long tomorrow.
Also, something to note this evening
Hwy 21 road blocks have been removed,
but officials say if you don't
need to travel on Hwy 21,
please don't at this time.
And of course officials are
going to continue to track
wind speeds throughout today.
Going in tomorrow as those freezing
temperatures are on the way and we'll
bring you the updates as we learn
more reporting off Hwy 21 in Bastrop.
I'm Dominic Newland Brian back to you.
Alright, Dominique,
thank you very much for the update
there from the front lines.
Also we have Pamela comb here
with us in Bastrop County.
Dominic mentioned a lot of the
families that were evacuated last
night and into the early morning.
Hours have now been able to return
it as of 6:00 o'clock tonight.
Most of those evacuated people will
be able to return to their homes.
Pamela Combs spent the afternoon
speaking with some of those people.
She joins us now with what they were
saying this afternoon as this fire has
seemed to be under control now for
at least the last few hours, Pamela.
Brian, they saw smoke, fire,
ash falling onto their lawns
and in moments like this it's
hard to say positive really.
I mean they've decided to
ignore the negative comments,
and that's exactly what Claire
Nuland Wonderland told me.
She remembers the 2011 fire in Bastrop
County that scorched thousands of acres.
She couldn't help but think
that would happen again.
She tells me that's exactly
what she saw yesterday when
she came out of her home.
It was a big column of of smoke and
what I noticed when I came downstairs
was that orange tent in the sky or
actually on the ground from shadows and
I knew then something wasn't right so.
That's what Wonderland her husband packed
up their RV and headed to the city.
She says it's a horrible feeling,
leaving everything behind,
not knowing if you had come back to it,
wunderlin is still uneasy,
given the fire is only 30% contained,
but officials do say the fires under
control for many Bishop County residents.
Evacuation order has already
been lifted and many are already
heading back home, Brian.
Pamela Comb live for us.
Also here in Bastrop County.
Now we did mention earlier that that
weather change is being prepared
for by the firefighters and those
kind of fighting the flames.
Still they're getting ready
for the winds to shift.
Ashley let me toss it back to
you as you have an update on the
forecast with Hunter Williams.
There a lot of people anxious
about that shift in winds coming
later tonight
and they definitely are hunter.
Give us some good news about
what what could happen
with this. Well unfortunately
it's not really good news.
We're going to have a pretty breezy.
Evening yesterday it was that
southerly wind that allowed the
fire to spread quickly yesterday.
Now tonight with our strong
cold front moving through,
it's going to be a gusty north wind.
We could have some 30 to 35 mile
per hour wind gusts and of course
that North wind will come in with
much colder air and a chance for
some wintry precipitation tomorrow.
The front is just now about to cross
into the northern tier of Arcview area,
but ahead of it,
we're still all in the 70s at 77 in Austin.
But look at the cold air.
Already filtering in for places
like Dallas up towards the
Panhandle Amarillo this afternoon
has dropped down to 30 degrees.
Now there is almost no rain or
storm chance right along the
front as it moves through,
with the exception being Fayette County,
where we've seen a few storms developing
over the past hour and this will
continue for the next hour or so until
that front moves through and brings
in that cooler air mess with it.
But there's a low end chance
for a strong storm or two.
You can see one of those storms now
passing just east of Schulenburg.