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Texas wildfires continue to erupt; firefighters keep moving
TOLAR, Texas (AP) — One firefighter was injured and two others were treated for heat exhaustion while fighting a wildfire in North Texas that burned almost half a square mile Wednesday, officials said.
The fire near Tolar, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Fort Worth, was completely uncontained as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The injured firefighter was airlifted to a Dallas hospital with burns to 10% of his body, according to a Hood County statement. His condition was not immediately known.
No structures have been reported damaged in that fire 16 miles (25.75 kilometers) north of the two-week-old Chalk Mountain Fire, which was 96% contained Wednesday after burning 10 1/2 square miles (27 1/3 square kilometers) and destroying 16 homes and damaging five others.
Meanwhile, wildfires have erupted in Central Texas as hot, breezy weather and extreme drought persist in the area, officials said Wednesday.
A fire on the Hays-Blanco county line about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) west of Austin has destroyed three homes and an occupied trailer and blackened 1 1/4 square miles (3 1/4 square kilometers), Texas A&M Forest Service spokesman Walter Flocke said. That fire was 60% contained Wednesday, he said.
A fire near Fredericksburg, 60 miles (96.56 kilometers) west of Austin, burned a little more than two square miles (5 2/3 square kilometers) and was 25% contained Wednesday, but it had burned no homes, according to a statement by Fredericksburg officials.