Fire update

As many counties Tuesday were assessing damage and cleaning up from Monday’s fires, at least one fire con-tinued to burn in the Permian Basin late Tuesday night.

A massive grassfire in Sterling County, called the “Glass Fire” burned more than 219,000 acres, and firefighters continue to battle it late Tuesday night.

Bear said the fire was 75 percent contained at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

“It was running pretty hard, even up till midnight Monday,” Bear said.

Schools were closed Tuesday in Robert Lee but expected to reopen Wednesday, two days after the fire forced the town of about 1,200 residents to evacuate. Most of the damage was limited to hunting-related structures and trailers, Robert Lee Mayor Joe White said.

Texas fires had scorched about 250,000 acres and threatened 570 structures by Tuesday.

John Bear, Texas Forest Service public information officer, said while everything hasn’t been totaled yet, Monday was a devastating day with fires in multiple counties across the Permian Basin.

A Ward County blaze called the “Grandfalls Fire” took out 6,000 acres Monday.

“There was one home threatened, but it was saved,” Bear said. “Two firefighters were injured with minor smoke inhalation.”

That blaze was difficult to control.

“Our resources were on that fire till 3 in the morning (Tuesday),” Bear said.

Texas Forest Service firefighters weren’t the only ones running ragged Monday. Andrews firefighters were kept busy all day. They, along with volunteers from surrounding counties, battled three blazes throughout the county.

The Frankel City fire burned 2,000 acres; a second unnamed fire took out 900 acres; and the C-Ranch Fire consumed 19,000 acres, Bear said.

“They were completely knocked down (Monday) night,” he said Tuesday morning.

In Lea County, N.M., more than 52,000 acres had been consumed by fire Tuesday morning.

The fire near Hobbs burned in an area of commercial buildings and some residences west of the city before it moved into a rural area, Hobbs police Capt. Donnie Graham said. About 100 people were asked to evacuate but they were allowed to return to their homes Monday night.

In Odessa, a 2 p.m. Monday grassfire that started near Interstate 20 and East Loop 338 engulfed more than 3,300 acres. Bear said it was contained completely Monday night, and no structures were lost.

“It was whacked out,” he said.

In nearby Midland County, close to 10,000 acres were consumed, but it was contained early on, Bear said.

“Midland ended up throwing their other resources around to help support other counties like Ector and Andrews,” he said.

Bear said Tuesday looked good for knocking some of those fire back — something the forest service hopes is done before Thursday.

“We have milder weather and things are looking pretty good today,” he said. “They’re looking at Thursday’s weather to pose more fire potential. The last time grassfires sparked up like this was in the winter of 2006, where hundreds of thousands of acres were burned in the Panhandle.”

The relative humidity is expected to fall today as winds intensify in the afternoon with gusts up to 25 mph, according to a National Weather Service forecast. Winds will pick up again Thursday with gusts up to 30 mph.

On Monday, the weather service recorded gusts up to 51 mph at Midland International Airport.

Odessa American staff writers Daniel Skolfield and F.A. Krift, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.