Horseshoe Bay brush fire may have started with spark on the road, officials say

HORSESHOE BAY — Texas A&M Forest Service officials believe an accidental spark on the road started a large brush fire that led to dozens of residents in Horseshoe Bay having to evacuate their homes Thursday.

“It was an unintentional roadside start either from a piece of equipment or from a vehicle,” forest service spokesman Matthew Ford told the American-Statesman.

Ford said the fire, which swept across an estimated 400 acres, was about 75% contained Friday afternoon. Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham sent a message to residents about 1:30 p.m. Friday and said no one had been injured.

Two subdivisions, the Trails and Blue Lake, were evacuated. Residents were allowed to return to their homes about 9 p.m. Thursday.

Two homes — both in Blue Lake — were damaged, Ford said. One was declared a total loss, and the other sustained heavy damage.

Ford said 37 homes were directly threatened by the fire Thursday. He said there were no reports of damage to homes in the Trails.

Fire and emergency crews were still managing the fire and putting out any hot spots Friday evening, Ford said. Though no fires could be seen along RM 2831, which is close to both of the subdivisions, some smoke was still visible.

“There has been a decrease in smoke. However, with just what has been going on, you’ll see more smoke pop up through the heat of the day, and that’s just what happens, so you will see smoke. It is not inhibiting traffic or anything like that,” Ford said. “We just ask residents to be mindful.”

Ford said he expected crews to be in the area until Saturday, though that situation could change depending on the fire.

Bo Holland of Austin said his family owns a lake house in Blue Lake, down the road from one of the damaged homes.

Holland said he and his family are relieved that no one was injured, but they were still on high alert. He said his family came out to the lake house a few days before to quarantine.

“The kids were here. We had gone to the grocery store. But on the way back we saw that the fire was raging along the road there,” Holland said.

He said the fire seemed to reach over the trees. He worried about being blocked in since the subdivision has only one way in and out.

He said he evacuated his family by boat and waited out the fire on the lake.

“During the week, a lot of these folks here live in different places and not many people are here, fortunately in this case,” he said.

The brush fire was followed by two others in Bastrop County on Friday.

Around 12:50 p.m., the county’s emergency management office said evacuations were in progress for homes in a rural area about 6 miles east of Bastrop. A burned-out car caused the fire, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.

By 1:30 p.m. the STAR Flight helicopter was dropping buckets of water on the fire and bulldozers with the forest service had begun cutting fire lines.

Firefighters lifted the evacuation order about 3:15 p.m., and by 4:35 p.m. the 25-acre fire was 75% contained.

A separate fire along the 2700 block of U.S. 290, east of Elgin, was 99% contained and was undergoing extensive mopup around 1:20 p.m., according to Bastrop County Emergency Services District No. 2.

Several counties in the area, including Llano, Burnet, Bastrop and Travis, are under burn bans.

American-Statesman reporter Brandon Mulder contributed to this report.

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