(Originally published at 6:25 p.m. CDT April 21, 2020)
A wildfire 32 miles north of the Rio Grande and 28 miles southwest of Ozona, Texas has burned 18,000 acres.
The Holcombe Road Fire started April 19, 2020 in Crockett County and has since spread into Val Verde County. The suppression of the fire is being led by the Lone Star State Type 3 Incident Management Team, with Incident Commander Shane Crimm in unified command with the two counties.
The prediction Tuesday morning was for active fire behavior, long range spotting, and very high growth potential. Currently, 6 occupied residences and 50 outbuildings are threatened, as well as oil and gas infrastructure.
Resources working the fire on Tuesday included 50 firefighters, 7 dozers, 24 engines and 2 air tankers. One of the air tankers was Tanker 910, a DC-10 that was flying out of and reloading at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Each sortie took about three hours, plus 50 minutes on the ground between the two loads for taxi and reloading. En route to the fire it was flying 450 mph at 11,300 feet, and returning, 400 mph at 16,400 feet.
