Wildfire roars out of West Texas canyons to menace homes

The renewed threat to dwellings outside Fort Davis, about 420 miles west of Austin, the state capital, marked the day's most menacing front among about 10 wildfires blazing across more than a half a million drought-parched acres of Texas.

Dry, windy weather and abundant grasslands and brush that thrived during heavy rains last year are fueling flames that have charred more than 1.8 million acres and 900 structures statewide since January 1, according to the Texas Forest Service.

Two firefighters have lost their lives so far.

But fire crews across the state held their own on Tuesday despite a general worsening of conditions from a day earlier, when rains helped smother a handful of blazes in northern Texas.

"We're feeling very lucky that no more has happened today than what we've gotten," state Forest Service spokesman Marq Webb said. "All the conditions are right to have some major problems."

In far West Texas, gusts of more than 60 miles an hour helped drive flames out of steep mountain canyons toward homes on the outskirts of Balmorhea State Park, about 37 miles north of Fort Davis. That town lost 23 homes earlier this month in the same fire, a conflagration that so far has consumed nearly 225,000 acres in the region.