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Fire engulfs small Texas city of Ranger in separate blaze from sprawling Eastland County grass fire

Roaring flames filled the city of Ranger's downtown area and engulfed historic structures including the police department building and a 100-year-old church

RANGER, Texas — Crews in a small Texas community are working to put out a fire that engulfed the city Thursday afternoon.

Heavy flames filled the city of Ranger's downtown area and engulfed historic structures including the police department building and a 100-year-old church.

Video taken by the Eastland County Today newspaper showed crews working to put out the fire at the historic Second Baptist Church and the police station.

Ranger is in Eastland County, about 85 miles west of Fort Worth, off of Interstate 20 and Loop 254. According to the city's website, Ranger has a population of 2,468 as of the 2010 census.

"A lot of sentimental value here. Lived in Ranger my whole life," fire chief Darrell Fox said.

Fox told WFAA the fire may have been started from a barbecue pit and was fueled by high winds in the area.

We knew coming into today, we had that red flag warning. We had everything ready throughout the county," Fox said. "But when we have the winds like there was today and the humidity down nothing, this is what you're going to get."

He added the Ranger fire started about three blocks south of the downtown area that was burned.

The Ranger fire was separate from a nearby massive wildfire, dubbed the Eastland Complex fire by the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Officials with the forest service said the Eastland Complex fire was a combination of four fires that came together. At least 45,000 acres have burned from this blaze. As of noon on Friday, the fire was 4% contained.

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