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Roundup: Firefighters Gain Ground Against Texas Wildfire

By KERA News & Wire Services

Dallas, TX –

Texas Forest Service: Active Fire Map

Firefighters gained ground Wednesday against one of the most destructive wildfires in Texas history even as the number of homes lost reached almost 800, and an elite search team set out to find any victims in the smoking ruins.

Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile, resumed his presidential campaign after rushing home over the weekend to deal with the crisis, traveling to California to meet his Republican rivals Wednesday night in his first nationally televised debate.

The blaze has left at least two people dead - their bodies were found on Tuesday - blackened about 45 square miles around Bastrop and cast a haze over Austin, 25 miles to the east, where the air smelled strongly of pine and cedar.

Firefighters reported that the flames were at least 30 percent contained after burning uncontrolled for three days. They credited an easing of the winds from Tropical Storm Lee that had caused the fire to explode over the weekend. Nevertheless, the number of homes reported destroyed rose from around 600 the day before.

The wildfire is the most catastrophic of more than 170 blazes that have erupted in the past week across the Lone Star State, where the countryside is perilously dry because of one of the most severe droughts on record in Texas. In addition to the two victims in the Bastrop fire, the outbreak is blamed for two deaths elsewhere.

Texas Task Force 1, a search team that was sent to New York following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, set out in the Bastrop area, using dogs trained to sniff out bodies.

Several thousand people evacuated ahead of the fire, but only around 2,500 registered with the county.

Across the state, about 1,200 firefighters battled the blazes, including crews from as far away as California and Oregon.

The outbreak has made this the state's costliest wildfire season on record, with $216 million in firefighting expenses since late 2010.

The crisis is unfolding months after Perry signed a budget that cut funding to the Texas Forest Service by one-third. Yet the agency insisted that being $35 million lighter hasn't left Texas less equipped to fight the latest fires. Under the new budget, which went into effect last week, no firefighters in the Forest Service were laid off, and the bulk of cutbacks will be felt by volunteer fire departments that were denied money for new trucks, said Robbie Dewitt, the agency's finance officer.

Moreover, fire officials said they will spend whatever is necessary to deal with the disaster and worry about how to pay for it later.

President Obama telephones Gov. Perry on Texas wildfires

President Barack Obama has telephoned Gov. Rick Perry, one of the Republicans who want Obama's job, to express concern for residents threatened by one of the most destructive wildfires in Texas history.

The White House says Obama made clear that the federal government will continue to provide assistance to state and local officials fighting the fire. Obama also assured Perry that requests for additional assistance would be quickly assessed.

Additionally, Obama has directed his national security staff to continue working closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Texas to ensure that all resources are being made available.

1 of 2 fire victims identified

Officials have identified one of two people killed in Texas wildfires this week. Forty-nine-year-old Michael Troy Farr, an employee of Austin Electric since 2003, died at his home in Smithville on Tuesday.

Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald announced Farr's death during a news conference on Wednesday.

Officials did not immediately release the identity of a second victim found at a different location.

The fires, among the most destructive in Texas history, have charred about 45 square miles around Bastrop and cast a haze over Austin, 25 miles to the east.

Texas energy providers want time to meet EPA rules

The main operator of the electricity grid in Texas has joined four other state energy providers in telling federal regulators they need more time to comply with new pollution rules that officials say could lead to outages during blistering summer months.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced in July downwind pollution rules aimed at reducing smog-causing emissions. The rules are to go into effect in January. They largely impact coal-fired power plants, and Texas has more such plants than any state.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says facilities in the Lone Star State could need up to three years to update equipment without decreasing production.

The agency says if the rules had been in effect this summer, Texas residents would have had rolling power outages during August's record heat.

Imprisoned sect leader Jeffs seeks new Texas trial

Imprisoned polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs has filed a handwritten motion seeking a new Texas trial after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison on child sex assault charges.

Jeffs claims his religious freedoms were violated by the courts.

A jury in August convicted the 55-year-old leader of the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jeffs represented himself at trial and received a life sentence plus 20-years in prison.

He's currently in a hospital after becoming sick from fasting.

The motion contends that a constitutional violation of rights is grounds for a new trial.

The document was filed Friday in the 51st District Court in Eldorado, Texas.

The Texas Attorney General's Office did not have an immediate comment on Wednesday.

Baylor raised issues over A&M to SEC

The Associated Press has obtained an email indicating that it was Baylor that raised the specter of legal action to stop Texas A&M from leaving the Big 12.

The email was sent late Tuesday by Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe to Mike Slive, his counterpart at the SEC.

It says the Southeastern Conference will need to ask each Big 12 school to waive their legal rights to clear the way for Texas A&M to join the SEC. Beebe says: "I recognize that this issue has been raised due to Baylor University's indication that its governing board has not waived the university's rights" to take legal action.

Beebe had sent a letter to Slive on Sept. 2 saying that the Big 12 "and its members" would not go to court to sue the SEC or its 12 member schools over Texas A&M as long as the deal was secured by Thursday afternoon.

Beebe then sent Tuesday night's email around the time that SEC presidents and chancellors were voting on an application from Texas A&M to join by next summer. Beebe told Slive, "I regret any confusion on this issue."

Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin told the AP in an interview that Tuesday's email was "really a violation of trust" on the part of Beebe.