HOUSTON – As a wildfire forced evacuations, homeowners ran to grab possessions in the Foxfire subdivision on the Grimes-Montgomery County line.
Gray clouds of smoke towered above the treetops on the edge of the neighborhood, and Joyce Anderson's family scrambled to salvage whatever they could.
One of her relatives raced through her grandmother's house, grabbing prescription pill bottles. Another called out to her children, telling them to get in the family's car. Dogs ran through the streets, barking at all the excitement.
"It's a horrible feeling," Anderson said. "And everything you touch is something you want to take, but you can't take it."
State troopers and sheriff's deputies drove through the dirt roads of the Foxfire subdivision in Grimes County, shouting over loudspeakers that the neighborhood was under a mandatory evacuation order. The smoke looming over the subdivision was all the warning anybody needed.
"It's hard," said Melissa Alvear, who's lived in the neighborhood for more than a decade. "It hurts, because this all has history here. My dad passed away a little over a year ago. This is our home base. And if this goes, this is all we got."
Foxfire was just one of several subdivisions threatened by a wildfire that threatened to spread into four Texas counties. But the flames were confined mainly to Montgomery and Grimes counties. Firefighters from as far away as Galveston rushed to help battle the blaze. Also lending a hand were employees of the Renaissance Festival, who doused smoldering embers behind the home of their boss, who also happens to be the mayor of Todd Mission.
Neighbors sped into the threatened subdivision to help friends gather up their belongings and evacuate. Some of them hastily hauled dogs into trucks. Others tried to round up horses and, in some cases, just set horses free so that they could escape the approaching fire.
Some stubborn residents pressed their luck, taking time to haul off appliances before state troopers told them they had to get out. Others ran from their mobile homes, loading their families into their cars and speeding out on the subdivision's dusty roads.
"You know, everybody's had their problems with fire," said Jay Pavlock, as he jump started a pick-up truck to drive away. "We're just one more in line. So we're just letting it go."
