Somervell County Family Loses Five Homes in Wildfire

Among the 16 homes destroyed by wildfires in Somervell County, five houses belonged to the same family west of Glen Rose.

Over the years, the Brown family built seven homes on the same 200 acres.

Five of the seven burned to the ground on Tuesday.

"This is our family homestead,” Chase Barber said. “My grandfather bought this land after World War II. It's been in our family for over 60 years and it's all decimated now."

Barber’s house was spared but his grandparents' house, the home he grew up in, and the homes of other assorted family members, are gone.

"It's a bunch of burned sticks where a beautiful forest used to be,” Barber said. "Our lives changed in the manner of hours. I mean over the course of two or three hours: The fire's coming. The fire's here. We have to leave."

The blaze, known as the Chalk Mountain Fire, has charred more than 6,000 acres since Tuesday. It was just 10% contained as of Wednesday evening.

Now, the family members who are displaced are staying in hotels or with friends and other relatives.

"During times like this family just has to come together,” Barber said. “That's why we're here."

Some but not all of the family members have insurance.

They’ve set up an account on GoFundMe to raise money.

They've already made the decision to rebuild, on the same land, and put their lives back together.

"We'll retap the wells, we'll get electricity back out of there," Barber said. "And we'll rebuild right where we were."

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