Longview, TX — When asked for a morning report on fires in Upshur County, Fire Marshal Paul Steelman said simply, "It's not looking good."
While no new fires - other than flare-ups from Friday blazes - have started in Upshur and Gregg counties, authorities said that high sustained winds and increasingly drying air have maintained fires near Diana, Kilgore and northeastern Upshur County, among other areas.
At 9:51 a.m., Harrison County dispatchers sent fire crews back to Interstate 20 at the 600 mile marker southeast of Longview, where smoke is rising from both sides of the road. So far, there are no reports of the interstate being closed as it was Sunday.
"Right now, conditions are such that homeowners cannot control the fires," Gregg County Fire Marshal David Kidder said this morning. "If you are in the area where wildfires are burning in the next few days, get out immediately."
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