Massive Texas Wildfire Spreads To America’s Largest Army Base 

A massive wildfire rages in and around America’s most populous U.S. military base in Texas. The fire is zero percent contained and doubled in size on Monday, according to Bloomberg. 

The Texas Wildfire Incident Response System (TWIRS) said the “Crittenburg Complex Fire” had burned more than 33,175 acres as of 11:50 local time. TWIRS shows multiple wildfires are burning on the northeastern edge of Fort Hood. 

Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored base in the U.S. The fort resides on 214,968 acres and can station and train two Armored Divisions. The latest census figures show at least 20,000 live on the base.

Crittenburg Complex fire consists of three wildfires. 

The Texas A&M Forest Service warned Monday of “high potential growth” for the fires because of severe drought conditions. Earlier this month, Governor Greg Abbott warned about elevated wildfire risks in the Lone Star State. 

Local newspaper Killeen Daily Herald said the Texas A&M Forest Service Task Force, Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System team, and several local fire departments are at Fort Hood with ground and air equipment to mitigate the fire’s spread. Though efforts have yielded no success as the size of the fire doubled in size.

“As conditions across a large portion of the state worsen, wildfires that ignite are burning more intensely and are frequently resistant to control.

Unfortunately, little to no precipitation is forecast for the immediate future and we expect the current level of wildfire activity to continue for some time,” Texas A&M Forest Service Fire Chief Wes Moorehead said.

Images on Twitter show large plumes of billowing smoke from Fort Hood. 

A view from our house in #killeen of the #CrittenburgFire in #coryellcounty #texas 😳. #TXFire pic.twitter.com/1u4erJoMTz

— JenLynpartyof4🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@JLynpartyof4) March 28, 2022

More than 15,000 acres have burned around Fort Hood pic.twitter.com/X3YqX4OOzv

— Dallas Texas TV (@DallasTexasTV) March 28, 2022

The #CrittenburgComplex which consists of 3 wildfires that have burned together. The fire is an estimated 17,267 acres. We are waiting to hear from @USAGforthood on a update. #TXFire This was the fire yesterday near East Range road and Triple A road. #forthood pic.twitter.com/3XrBULqLA9

— Eric Franklin 📷 (@ericfranklinTV) March 28, 2022

Weather satellites capture the massive plume. 

The Crittenburg Complex fire, raging yesterday.

Growing to 17,000+ acres, blanketing Dallas in smoke. pic.twitter.com/lDuVPzAQOD

— Dakota Smith (@weatherdak) March 28, 2022

Smoke from the Crittenburg Complex fire has made it into DFW. This fire is burning near Ft. Hood in Central Texas. A strong S/SW wind keeps the smoke in the area. We have lowered air quality as a result.
Note: smoke has been enhanced with colors to better spot #wfaaweather pic.twitter.com/YSE3DTSg6t

— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) March 28, 2022

Fort Hood public affairs officials have yet to announce any evacuations.