Grass fire near Horseshoe Bay burns 400 acres

HORSESHOE BAY, Texas - Two homes were damaged by the grassfire that swept through 400 acres just west of Horseshoe Bay. One is a total loss. Friday fire crews spent the day putting out hotspots, building preventative backfires, and connecting firebreaks which were cut Thursday. 

“It could have gone bad, it could always go worse, fortunately, the neighborhood was prepared. And we were able to get to in a reasonable amount of town,” said Matthew Ford with the Texas A&M Forest Service.

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The video was recorded as Sumer Thole and her family were fleeing from her grandfather's home. Her brother can be heard saying, “Dude everything is gone.”

There wasn’t much time for them to get out of the Blue Lake Subdivision.

“Just trying to get out. We had 3 dogs. So we got out with our keys, trucks and the dogs. And just left,” said Sumer.

Before they left, a few minutes earlier Sumer took a picture as the fire approached. Her grandfather and others were on the roof with a water hose. The fire almost reach their propane tank and gas tanks in the backyard

“Just seeing the flames rolling was it almost looked like the entire back of the house was on fire, we were fortunate enough only a couple of windows were busted,” said Lloyd Thole.

There are no reported injuries but some of those who evacuated had to drive by walls of flames. 

“Driving by it, it was blazing into my truck, it was just hot, and I was maybe 10 feet away from it. It was blazing, people were stopping by watering their garden and their grass, it was crazy,” said Hector Gonzalez.

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The fleet of aircraft which provided an aerial attack with multiple water drops Thursday was not needed Friday. Along with all the airdrops at all the fire fighting equipment on hand, there was one other thing that played a pivotal role. And it was in place long before the first spark happened. it’s something that’s called being fire-wise.”

“We also like to say it’s, lean clean and green they had green clean areas there was nothing in the gutters and also from Fire why standpoint you create that defensible space that also helped the firefighters not only from a point of safety, in a local response time, able to get there faster safer give them more time to triage the homes and provide structure protection”,” said Ford.

Forestry officials also urge people to take care when cutting fire protection zones. A single spark from a mower blade hitting a rock has been known to start large fires in the past.

As of 5:00 p.m. Friday afternoon, no official cause had been revealed. But investigators tell FOX 7 Austin that they believe the fire may have first started along FM 2831 near the entrance of The Trails subdivision.