A wildfire, which whipped through several hundred acres north of Fulshear before slowing Friday night, reignited Saturday and spread across more acreage in northern Fort Bend County.
Firefighters from volunteer and city fire departments, including Richmond, Rosenberg, Katy, Fulshear, Simonton, Pattison, Willow Fork and Cy-Fair converged on the scene and re-established a command post set up Friday at Hunt Road near Fulshear and FM 359.
Those departments had been on the scene for hours beginning late Friday afternoon.
Pushed by 20 mile-per-hour winds lat Friday, the fire swept across between 400 and 800 acres, according to observers’ estimates.
According to the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Services, firefighters “were able to take a break” Friday night when winds subsided.
“However, first thing on Saturday morning, the fire re-initiated, causing the need for all the fire departments to reconvene at the Hunt Road Comman Post,” OEM said in a statement.
As of 4 p.m., most of those departments still were battling the blaze. Pattison firefighters had to leave to fight another wildfire within their coverage area.
Richmond Assistant Fire Chief Mike Hafer told county officials firefighters lit backfires to stop the wildfire’s spread to other dry, grassy areas.
Firefighters also requested and received assistance from the Texas Forest Service, which provided a bulldozer and crew and “water drops” from a forest service helicopter.
A few homeowners reportedly were asked to evacuate as a precaution late Friday, but the fire was burning in a relatively sparsely populated area.
