Ross wildfire burning in North Texas was ‘human-caused,’ investigators determine

The Ross wildfire currently scorching two North Texas counties was caused by a vehicle or other equipment on a roadside, officials with the Texas A&M Forest Service have determined. State investigators initially said the cause may have been a tire blowout, but later corrected the statement to say the fire sparked from equipment or vehicle use “associated with a roadside start,” Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson Laura Stevens said Wednesday. The fire has consumed more than 90,000 acres in Palo Pinto and Jack counties as of Thursday morning, according to its tracking webpage on the Watch Duty alert platform. “Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement, working in coordination with local law enforcement agencies, have … determined the cause of the Ross Fire was human-caused,” officials with the forest service said. Crews fighting the fire took an innovative approach Monday, using ground vehicles to apply a fire retardant typically dropped from airplanes, according to a post on the forest service’s Facebook page.

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