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Authorities on Thursday fully contained a fire at Cedar Hill State Park that, starting late Wednesday, slowed traffic for several hours.
The blaze forced authorities to close FM 1382 in both directions for almost three hours, Cedar Hill police said about 5:45 p.m. Wednesday. It covered 12.7 acres and was 100% contained a little after 3 p.m. Thursday, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The southbound lanes of the roadway reopened Wednesday evening but only one northbound lane toward Grand Prairie reopened Thursday, Cedar Hill police said. Police advised motorists in a Facebook post to use caution and “remember to slow down or move over as fire crews are still working in the area.”
The Texas A&M Forest Service brought engine crews and heavy equipment, said Adam Turner, an agency spokesman. The agency also brought two large air tankers that dropped fire retardant on the blaze.
“Those retardant drops pretty much stopped forward progress of that fire and really allowed the local resources from Dallas County to put a handle onto it until our heavy equipment got there,” Turner said.
Alison Ream, assistant city manager for Cedar Hill, said multiple agencies, including units from Cedar Hill, Dallas, Ovilla and Grand Prairie, responded to the scene.
Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans confirmed the department assisted along FM 1382 about 4:30 p.m., providing multiple engines and trucks.
An elevated to critical fire weather threat will persist through the weekend and into the first half of next week in North Texas, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. Elsewhere in North Texas, fire crews are still working to contain a blaze in Johnson County, dubbed the Double Back Fire.
The fire, which started Sunday, covers about 1,300 acres with 95% containment and has burned three outbuildings. Officials said in a Thursday update that fire crews will continue to check on the blaze for the next several days to ensure no further spread occurs.
Much of North Texas has burn bans in place, and the forest service has raised the state wildfire preparedness level to its second-highest rating at Level 4, citing an increase in wildfire activity across the state and the growing potential for those blazes to become more severe.
No injuries were reported in either blaze.