07:38 AM CST on Tuesday, January 3, 2006

From WFAA-TV Staff Reports

WFAA-TV

Wildfires burned in a number of North Texas communities on Sunday.

As nightfall hit Monday, one of the largest wildfires raged in San Angelo where more than 37,000 acres were burning.

Since Sunday, many tiny communities in North and West Texas have been evacuated or essentially destroyed.

Two Chinooks and seven Blackhawk helicopters joined the fire-fighting battle by dropping water over blazing land, and Governor Rick Perry surveyed some of the areas damaged Sunday, which included the virtually destroyed town of Ringgold.

While much of the small cattle town near the Oklahoma border was destroyed by a fast moving brush fire, everyone in the town was accounted for and alive.

Monday afternoon, Carolyn Grissom stood with two of her grandchildren looking at the rubble of what she called her family's dream house.

"I didn't know if we were going to make it or not," Grissom said.

Grissom and her husband were in the midst of restoring the old home before the fire consumed it.

"This was a screen porch," she said while surveying the area. "This was the living room and where you can see where my piano sat."

Residents said while firefighters did their best to battle the blaze, the 30 mph winds created little fire tornadoes that twisted and turned at random.

The fire was about 17 miles long, four miles wide and raced up Highway 81 in a matter of minutes.

When the flames eventually died, 31 of 39 homes in Ringgold were destroyed. An old cemetery's grass and topsoil were also destroyed, but the headstones survived.

Firefighters set up a perimeter outside Ringgold and watched for possible hotspots that might reignite.

"The most important thing to happen here is to get the Federal government to come in and pitch in," Governor Perry said at the site of the Ringgold damage.

He met with victims and firefighters during his tour of Ringgold and promised help was on the way.

"As I told the county judge and mayor...go do whatever you need to do [and] don't worry about the money," Governor Perry said. "We have people's lives and property in jeopardy."

Paul Gibbs, Nocona's mayor, gave potentially bad news for the already devastated region.

"That whole side of Highway 82 is ready to go up fast, or faster than what happened to the north of town," Gibbs said.

In Eastland County, where oil and ranching rule, fire grabbed the attention of the areas 15,000 residents as miles burned.

"It's rangeland," said Don Wilson, Eastland city manager. "Grass, trees and forest [were destroyed]. It's just unbelievable."

More than a dozen families lost homes between Sunday and Monday in the area.

The Weaver family, from the community of Carbon, were among those homeless after the fire destroyed the home they moved in 6 years ago after leaving Arlington.

Ellen Weaver said she had 15 minutes to get off the property and managed to grab only a few documents from the home.

"By the time I got to the car, the embers were all over," she said. "It was just yellow...out here."

All that was left of her home was a slab, melted roof and the welcome mat.

Her husband, a minister, and sons were fighting fires in another part of the county when the flames broke out at their own home.

"It was probably the most frightening time of my life," Weaver said.

And in Erath County, a separate wildfire burned homes and sent families fleeing to Red Cross shelters.

"We've got a lot of resources," said Mark Pipkin. "They're all real tired, but we're working real hard to keep it under control."

While firefighters continue to battle fires across North Texas and volunteers continue to give aid, many are becoming overwhelmed physically and monetarily.

"So, It's been an incredibly devastating year for families and difficult for the Red Cross, our volunteers and our resources," said Anita Foster, American Red Cross.

During the past week, the local chapter of the American Red Cross helped nearly 300 families who are now homeless because of fires.

In Tarrant, Wise, Parker and Hood counties, 33 families were hit. In Eastland County, fires devastated more than 116 families, and 80 in Montague.

Response organizations said the need for help has far outweighed the resources.

"Every time a disaster occurs, the Red Cross steps into that disaster and we don't know how we're going to pay for it," Foster said.

If the grassfires weren't enough, the Red Cross has also dealt with a record number of house fires since Thanksgiving, which total 176 to date.

And those disasters are just an addition to the ones created by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"We have to...be prepared no matter what," Foster said. "We have to respond whether we have the money or not."

Dan Ronan, Yolanda Walker and Karin Kelly contributed to this report