Wildfire in San Jacinto Co. grows to 2,000 acres, 10% contained; evacuations in place | Shelters, school closings and more

SAN JACINTO COUNTY, Texas — An estimated 2,000 acres are burning in a wildfire in San Jacinto County near the Montgomery County line, prompting evacuations and a school district to close. High wind and low humidity provided the fuel the fire needed to quickly spread.

According to an update from Texas A&M Forest Service at a little after 11 p.m. Wednesday, the fire — which has been named the Pauline Road fire — has grown to 2,000 acres between Conroe and Cleveland. The fire remains only 10% contained.

Check the latest on the fire on the Texas A&M Forest Service incident map.

As of 8:15 p.m., there were mandatory evacuations in pace for the following roads: Pauline Road, Lee Turner Road, Kirby Road, Big Buck Road, Hereford Way and Blue Teal Road in San Jacinto County. 

Montgomery County officials were telling residents south and west of Peach Creek that they need to be prepared to evacuate if the fire crosses the creek. There are voluntary evacuations for residents in the Doru Drive and Big Buck Drive areas.

• Cleveland: Calvary Baptist Church in Cleveland at 816 Blair Ave.
• Splendora: East Montgomery County Community Development Center at 16401 1st Street. 
• Coldspring: San Jacinto County Shelter at 255 Live Oak Street 

Cleveland ISD posted a message late Wednesday night, saying that due to the ongoing Pauline Road fires and expected conditions, that the district will be closed on Thursday, March 20.  

Livestock is being evacuated from areas impacted by the fire. Residents are being told that if they need a safe place for animals, they can take them to Caney Creek Cowboy Church. It’s at 17703 Nonesuch Road in Conroe. 

At this point, we don’t know how the fire started, but there is a continuing fire danger because of the high winds and low humidity.

Multiple agencies are on the scene battling the fire from the air and trying to contain it on the ground.

“Air operations will be dropping water. They’ll be taking water from overhead and dropping water,” Millsaps said. “The other way to fight fire in this case is to get a line around it. So that’s what the dozers are for. They’ll be going around and drawing protection lines around this to try to contain this fire. And so those are the two options that we’re using at this time. The firefighters on the ground are basically here to ensure those structures are damaged in this process, and they are protecting those structures if fire encroaches on them, they’ll protect those structures.”

Earlier in the day, winds were gusting between 22 and 25 miles per hour from the northwest, according to KHOU 11 meteorologist Kim Castro. That was pushing smoke toward Cleveland and Liberty County. Drivers on Highway 69 should expect reduced visibility from the smoky haze.

Millsaps expects crews to be on the scene for quite a while.

“We’re going to continue to be battling this blaze well into the night with the winds,” Millsaps said. “However, the relative humidity is expected to rise every hour through the evening. That will assist us as the fire behavior will start to diminish and we’ll be able to get a better handle on it.”

According to the San Jacinto County Office of Emergency Management, a controlled burn was being performed by a landowner. They said it was supposed to be a 60-acre fire. It’s unclear if that’s the fire that sparked the wildfire.

The fire was so strong that the heat signal was picked up on radar and satellite imagery.

This is a breaking story. As soon as we have more information, we’ll post it here. You can also download the KHOU 11 app for updates as we get them.