Rain fell over and around the Ross Fire in North Texas on Thursday, the first measurable precipitation the Dallas-Fort Worth region had seen in more than 55 days, the seventh-longest dry stretch on record for the area. The brief but heavy rain dampened flames and embers and helped speed containment on a fire that had burned 90,400 acres across Palo Pinto and Jack counties as of September 10 and stood at 76% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The relief follows a genuinely extraordinary three weeks. The Ross Fire ignited August 24 near Palo Pinto, sparked by equipment or a vehicle along a roadway, though investigators haven’t pinned down the exact source. It grew with a speed that outpaced most wildfires in the region’s history: by August 25 it had doubled to roughly 50,000 acres in a matter of hours, and by August 26 it topped 80,000 acres. August itself was the driest on record for Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the National Weather Service’s Fort Worth office, conditions that turned what might have been a contained brush fire into what’s now the second-largest wildfire in North Texas’s recorded history, behind only the 126,734-acre Possum Kingdom Complex Fire of April 2011.
The human and property toll has become clearer as containment has progressed. At least 157 structures, including 18 that were occupied, have been destroyed, according to an initial assessment from firefighters, though officials haven’t yet released a dollar estimate of total property losses. Among the damaged sites is Worth Ranch, an 800-acre historic Scouting America camp along the Brazos River, though the extent of damage there remains undetermined. Two firefighters have been injured, both minor, according to Forest Service public information officer Adam Turner: a hand injury from a traffic collision and an eye injury treated on scene. Evacuation orders across Jack and Palo Pinto counties, in place at various points as the fire moved, have all since been lifted, though officials continue urging residents near the burn area to stay ready to leave quickly if conditions shift, given ongoing reburn risk from scorched timber and strong southeasterly winds…