Nearly 100 acres burn in grass fire

    Firefighters around the area responded to a large grass fire on FM 822 and Hwy. 111 in Jackson County around 3:10 Friday afternoon.
    According to Edna Fire Marshal Buster Chase, the Texas Forestry Service estimated that 98.6 acres burned in the fire that also destroyed a vacant mobile home and two storage buildings.
    “Most of what burned was heavy brush that was too hard to get a fire truck to,” Chase said.
    The mobile home, belonging to Elisha and Jesse James, sat on 54 acres that they owned and leased to others. A shed on the property was also destroyed.
    “I came out of the house and saw white smoke about two pastures down,” said Tina Hadley, who lived nearby. “I went back in the house and came out a little bit later and the smoke was now dark. It was by a big cell tower and I could hear the fire crackling and see flames over the tops of the trees.”
    Hadley called 911 to report the fire, then called her husband, Carl, who told her to check on the animals.
    Carl works cattle for a living so they have horses on their property. Her daughter, Jaymi Flanagan and her husband, Dustin, live just down the road with their three children.
    “Jaymi came over and said the fire jumped the road,” Tina said. “We saw it was going in our pasture so I called Carl and told him to come home.”
    In the meantime, fire department personnel evacuated residents in the area.