By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
Tina Kelley stood out of breath in the road in front of a smoldering field on County Road 237 on Wednesday, wearing a tee shirt, shorts, and one flip flop. She’d lost the other one rescuing her friend Tiffany Laredo’s dogs from a blaze threatening to engulf their kennels, then chasing them down to get them home. One of the dogs cooled himself in a puddle next to a running waterhose, lapping water as he rolled around. Others stood tied to fence posts as they searched for the others. No one, human or canine, was injured.
The fire, which Kelley said started with a neighbor burning garbage, spread quickly, as have most in recent days. It was the fourteenth fire in three days, and the second that destroyed structures.
Sunday, 235 acres south of La Ward burned, including a large portion of the Formosa Tejano Wetlands, followed by several fires Monday. By Wednesday, they’d showed no sign of stopping.