FORT WORTH, Texas —
The flames began along a wooden fence.
Then, they engulfed a single-story home along Feathercrest Drive in north Fort Worth before spreading to the house next to it.
Fort Worth fire officials deployed an attack line and extinguished the house fire Sunday afternoon.
Neighbor Luis Mercado saw the smoke as he left a grocery store nearby. When he realized the smoke appeared to come from his neighborhood, he rushed home.
“It looks dangerous... it looks ugly,” Mercado said as he watched the house across the street from him in flames.
Fire officials told WFAA the fire started outside, but a cause is still under investigation. Two people were in the home that caught fire, and no one was injured.
“I was not afraid for myself, afraid for the neighbors,” Mercado said.
His neighbors are all okay, but those who live on the same block worried the fire would spread to their homes like recent fires in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have.
“Makes me feel nervous, cause you never know with this weather right now,” Mercado said. "It’s really easy for anything to start a fire."
Tuesday’s fire in Rendon is an example of that. The Rendon fire, which began in someone’s kitchen, became a grass fire and quickly spread to three other homes.
The extreme heat and dry conditions keep homeowners like Mercado on edge, while fire crews are busy putting out flames.
On Sunday afternoon, Fort Worth crews fought several grass fires in the area. The extreme hot and dry conditions led Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley to declare an emergency disaster declaration in the county on Friday.
The Fort Worth Fire Department’s response to grass and brush fires has skyrocketed this summer. The department’s response rate is up more than 700% from 2021.
For fire crews who have worked long hours battling flames in the heat, the drought seems endless.