Fire off 83/84 burns 300 acres

TUSCOLA - The "Tuscola Fire" burned 300 acres and 3 structures Thursday afternoon. JNVFD was notified of a fire in the median on Hwy 83/84 just north of the "Y" around 1:30pm. With gusty southwest winds, the fire quickly jumped the northbound lane into the pasture east of the highway and raced north to CR 154 endangering several homes. After jumping CR 154, the fire continued north into heavy brush and the Texas Forest Service called in 3 helicopters, a heavy air tanker, and several dozer strike teams. The fire was fully contained with a fire break late Thursday afternoon, but crews remained onscene and monitored the situation into the overnight hours. Firefighters from Buffalo Gap, Lawn, Potosi, View, ECCA, Merkel and Abilene also responded to the call. No injuries were reported and all the residences on CR 154 were spared as of late Thursday. We responded with all 3 of our brush trucks but Brush 2 sustained extensive transmission damage fighting the fire.