FLOWER MOUND, Texas — The flower mound that the City of Flower Mound was named for caught fire Tuesday afternoon.
Flower Mound firefighters were able to respond quickly at about 4 p.m., and were able put out the fire within an hour, the Flower Mound Fire Department said in a Facebook post. But crews were still extinguishing hot spots on the scene into Tuesday evening, officials added.
"The fire did cause small damage to the deck of a nearby home, but thankfully, the majority of the surrounding structures were undamaged," the post stated.
In an update Wednesday, officials said a construction crew, which was contracted by the City, sparked the fire while cutting rebar using a K12 circular saw near the southeast corner of The Flower Mound. At this time, the fire has been ruled accidental, officials said.
City officials said they were working with the construction company on next steps, including responding to insurance claims from property owners who were affected by the fire.
Minor damage from the fire was contained to a small area of cedar fencing surrounding The Flower Mound, the fencing behind two homes off Warwick Avenue, and a deck to one home off Warwick Avenue.
Denton County is still under a mandatory burn ban. A planned controlled burn at The Flower Mound scheduled for early November 2023 will no longer take place, officials said in Wednesday's update.
The City of Flower Mound website says the city was named after the mound, which is about 650 feet above sea level and 50 feet above the surrounding countryside.
"Texas' eminent historian, the late A.C. Greene, believed the hill received its name in the 1840s because of an unusual amount of wild flowers that grew on it," the website states. "This area was part of the great American Black Land Prairie that ran from Canada to the Rio Grande and from the Rockies to the Mississippi."
Only about 1,000 acres remain of the Tall Grass Prairie, which originally spanned about 20 million acres.
Wild flowers were abundant in wet springs in the area due to settlers using the mound as a hay meadow and never plowing it, the site says. More than 175 species of wild flowers have been identified by the nonprofit Mound Foundation. Many of the flowers found on the mound can be seen here.