{"id":439210,"date":"2026-09-17T21:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439210\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T21:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:14:17","slug":"several-active-wildfires-are-burning-across-texas-heres-how-close-to-austin-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439210\/","title":{"rendered":"Several active wildfires are burning across Texas. Here’s how close to Austin they are."},"content":{"rendered":"

Extreme heat, a lack of rain<\/a>, dry soil and breezy winds have created a recipe for explosive wildfire growth across Texas this week.\u00a0As of Thursday morning,\u00a0the Texas A&M Forest Service<\/a> and local fire crews were responding to at least nine active wildfires across the state, with nearly 14,000 acres burned.<\/p>\n

WILDFIRE TRACKER: Track wildfires across Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

The largest fires, as of Thursday morning, were in West and North Texas. The Dry River Fire in Sutton County, and the Hydra Fire in\u00a0Bosque County, were each only partially contained.<\/p>\n

Current large wildfires<\/p>\n

The Dry River Fire started on Monday, west of Sonora near Interstate 10 in West Texas. About 8,800 acres have burned and only 40% contained as of noon Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Firefighters continued suppression efforts last night, working to build containment line and extinguish flames along the flank,” officials from the Texas A&M Forest Service said.<\/p>\n

Significant smoke hazards are plaguing the area. At one point, the National Weather Service office in San Angelo issued a fire warning near I-10 where smoke was reducing visibility for drivers. They also urged travelers to be cautious if traveling in the area and be on alert for both emergency vehicles and smoke through the weekend. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hydra Fire <\/a>also started on Monday in\u00a0Bosque County, just northwest of Waco near the communities of Meridian and Clifton. At one point Tuesday, fire officials ordered the evacuation of the entire city of Meridian before crews were able to stop the fire’s spread near the city limits.<\/p>\n

About 1,100 acres have burned, and the fire was only 35% contained as of noon Thursday. Fire officials said they do not expect the fire to be fully contained until this weekend.<\/p>\n

WILDFIRE THREAT: Texas cities among top 10 metros under high wildfire risk. Here’s where Austin ranked.<\/a><\/p>\n

Large Ross Fire is contained<\/p>\n

After 23 days, the Ross Fire in Palo Pinto and Jack counties continues<\/a> in North Texas is now fully contained, according to the\u00a0Texas A&M Forest Service<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Ross Fire, which burned nearly 90,000 acres, was reported to be\u00a0100% contained at 6:20\u00a0p.m<\/a>. Wednesday after burning since late August.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wildfire forecast<\/p>\n

The latest data set for Texas from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows 81% of the state experiencing at least moderate drought – up from about 74% last week. That proportion of Texas in drought was as low as 40% three months ago.<\/p>\n

The intensifying drought will only exacerbate the wildfire threat across the state through the rest of the week, especially with the lack of beneficial rainfall in the forecast. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Wildfire<\/p>\n

Wildfire threat levels are moderate across most of the state Thursday, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. (Texas A&M Forest Service)<\/p>\n

Preventing wildfires\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s important to remember that 90% of wildfires in Texas are started by human activity. You can help prevent wildfires by being extremely careful with anything that can create a spark or flame, especially during hot, dry and windy weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Be sure to avoid burning brush or trash when conditions are unsafe, properly extinguish campfires and cigarettes, and never park vehicles on dry grass, where hot exhaust systems can ignite vegetation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Creating defensible space by clearing dry grass, leaves and other flammable materials away from your home can also help reduce the risk of wildfire spreading to your property.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Daily Briefing from the Austin American-Statesman. Start your day with the must-read headlines from Austin’s most trusted news source.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Several active wildfires are burning across Texas. Here’s how close to Austin they are.<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Extreme heat, a lack of rain, dry soil and breezy winds have created a recipe for explosive wildfire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[152124,132,134,133,430,133711,27,1887],"class_list":["post-439210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-active-wildfires","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-north-texas","tag-sutton-county","tag-texas","tag-texas-am-forest-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}