At least five local counties have declared a disaster over the threat of wildfires as drought conditions worsened this week.
Johnson County Judge Rodger Harmon wrote in a declaration filed Tuesday afternoon that the county "is under imminent threat of severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property" from possible wildfires.
The Johnson County emergency management office Tweeted that a disaster was declared "based on fuel loading, weather conditions and the drought index."
The disaster declaration allows the county to ban fireworks for 60 hours, through the Fourth of July holiday. Johnson County and other counties in North Texas issued burn bans, but burn bans do not apply to fireworks.
No large fires have been reported in Johnson County, but a wildfire in nearby Granbury, in Hood County, burned about 200 acres on Monday.
The Granbury Theatre Company lost a storage facility in the blaze.
"Some of those costumes date back to the mid-70s," said Micky Shearon, the theatre company's director.
Shearon estimated the lost value of costumes and prop sets upwards of $20,000, including stuff used in performances of Shrek and South Pacific.
"It could've been worse," he said. "But we definitely didn't expect it."
Further west, in Palo-Pinto County, a wildfire tripled in size on Tuesday, burning more than 2,000 acres and threatening 12 structures.
Palo-Pinto, Parker, Hood and Erath counties have also declared a disaster, banning the use of fireworks for 60 hours until later in the week.
