‘It was raining fire’: Recovery continues 10 years after Bastrop wildfires
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by: Eric Henrikson
Posted: Sep 3, 2021 / 09:11 AM CDT / Updated: Sep 3, 2021 / 09:11 AM CDT


BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — This weekend marks 10 years since the Bastrop Complex Fire, one of the largest wildfires in Texas history. Two people died and 32,000 acres were destroyed in the blaze that lasted 55 days.

For many Bastrop residents, the scars from those weeks have been slow to fade.

“This fire made its own lightning. It made its own wind. It made its own rain. It was a storm inside of a storm,” said Michelle Byrd. She was one of the many volunteer firefighters on the front lines as the fire tore through her community.

“I told a friend, as long as I’m a firetruck, fighting fires, I felt like I was in control. Turns out, not so much.”

Michelle and her husband lived in the Tahitian Village neighborhood.

“When I pulled up in my driveway, it was raining fire,” Michelle recounts with tears in her eyes. “I’m a firefighter. I had a metal roof. I had my trees cut back. I had my yard mowed, but none of that matters when the fire is coming from above and sideways and under.”

Despite her best efforts to fight the fire, the blaze consumed her home.

“It was too late,” she said. -- excerpt, rest at link above --

It was a horrible time.