Texas Wildfires Kill Four, Destroy More Than 1000 Homes

Texas has been experiencing one of the worst wildfire outbreaks in the state’s history, and now at least four people are dead and more than 1,000 people have lost their homes. Due to a long drought, more than 180 fires have broken out in the last week. Over the weekend winds from Tropical Storm Lee caused one of the biggest fires to spread, burning more than 45 square miles in Bastrop County, near Austin.

Many are watching Governor Rick Perry to see how he’ll handle the disaster. So far he’s cut short a campaign trip to South Carolina, and complained that the federal government didn’t free up needed equiptment fast enough. A White House spokesman says the Obama administration has approved seven federal grants to help respond to the outbreak, and adds, “we will continue to work closely with the state and local emergency management officials as their efforts to contain these fires.”