Medina County wildfire mostly contained as residents allowed to return home

The Das Goat fire in Medina County remained active Thursday but was almost fully contained, and residents were able to return to their homes Wednesday, a county official said.

The blaze started by a burning vehicle last Friday has burned more than 1,000 acres across Medina County, county emergency manager Keith Lutz said. The fire was 95% contained as of Thursday morning, and with electricity and water restored to, all residents were able to return home as of Wednesday, Lutz said.

“[Wednesday] was a challenging day, just because of the high winds and low humidity,” he said. “We had a couple of flare-ups, but the crews were able to keep it all contained inside of the line.”

The three homes that were reported lost to the fire earlier this week remained the only structures lost to the fire, Lutz said. No injuries or loss of life have occurred from the blaze, he said.

The only remaining issue was that some people have lost access to water wells on their property, Lutz said. Medina County officials were working with these families to help restore their wells and to provide them with clean water in the meantime, he added.

“It’s wonderful to live in Medina County where people just take care of each other,” he said. Donations from residents in the area have made operations run smoothly, he said.

On Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for Medina County at a press conference in Castroville. Over the past couple of weeks, state officials have also declared disasters in Blanco, Brown, Brooks, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Grayson, Hood, Mason, Potter, Randall, Reynolds, Williamson and Starr counties due to a rapid spread of wildfires across the state, Abbott said.

Both state and federal resources have been utilized to help contain fires across Texas, including the Das Goat fire, Lutz said.

“Every single person that came in to help with this, whether it was on the scene or outside of the scene, was important,” Lutz said. “The response, I think that at the end of the day, is what made [containing] this as successful as it was.”