The Nation - News from March 14, 1988

Weary firefighters worked to extinguish hot spots still smoldering in a brush fire that charred hundreds of square miles of Texas prairie. State and federal officials began a damage assessment, and Gov. Bill Clements’ office was considering whether to issue a disaster proclamation early this week. The blaze, which started Thursday as a trash fire, burned about 300,000 acres in one county alone, raced into sections of four other counties and threatened the towns of Albany and Moran in Shackelford County and Baird in northern Calahan County, just east of Abilene in the north-central part of the state. The fire killed livestock, burned trailer homes and oil-field equipment and closed roads. Many dwellings were evacuated.