September 6th, 2011
09:30 AM ET

Texans flee wildfire through road of flames

As the sun set on an airport hotel parking lot in Austin, Texas, Roger Cosby needed to tell his story.

He had just witnessed a sight that many Texans are battling - a devastating wildfire.

The state's largest blaze, a massive, uncontained fire in Bastrop County near Austin, has scorched some 25,000 acres, destroyed at least 470 homes and forced about 5,000 residents to evacuate.

That wildfire on Sunday was near the house Cosby shares with his companion of nine years, Cindy Boyd.

Cosby was taking a nap, while Boyd was working in their shop, making decorative plates.

Then Boyd smelled smoke.

"Roger, we have to go now, we have to go now," Cosby recalls Boyd saying as she woke him.

The Bastrop home that Boyd has lived in for 26 years was on fire.

Cosby says quickly jumped into their car with a few belongings and sped down a long driveway with flames surrounding them on both sides.

"It was like opening the door of an oven," Cosby says.

He says he fears they have lost everything: the house, a workshop, a greenhouse, a truck and worst of all - six acres of trees surrounding the house.

Roger Cosby holds decorative plates, some of the few possessions he was able to salvage.

"It was Cindy's forest," says Cosby, standing next to their getaway car.

He says they hope to return to the house on Tuesday for the first time since the fire to see if anything survived.

"It's all gone. There is no way anything could be left," Cosby struggles to say.

Boyd's forest is now likely a scorched, version of the area she loved so much. They assume charred limbs are all that remain.

Cosby says they have no plans to rebuild on the land they love so much because they believe it will never be the same.

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Filed under: Fire • Natural Disasters • Texas
soundoff (111 Responses)
  1. fernace

    Yes, @ gottasayit, democrats & informed republicans alike are afraid of Rick Perry & people of his ilk! Please read the posts of Counting Wizard, DDanny1, Christian & others to figure out why! He's not a threat to Obama, gottasayit, his mindset & policies are a threat to this nation, if he became Potus! To those who actually believe he has created jobs in Tx., there is a job freeze on govt. jobs right now! Those who are "taking him apart" are pretty much speaking the truth! If that's the kind of president you want, then God help you!!

    September 6, 2011 at 8:04 pm | Report abuse |
    • lkinaustin

      Ditto, fernace!! As much as I'd like to get rid of Perry from our governor's office, I don't wish him on the nation. If we thought we were in trouble under GWB, just wait. Perry is MUCH smarter than Bush and that makes him much more dangerous. I personally think he'll get the GOP nomination but then he'll show his true colors and the middle of the road folks will be turned off by him and his extreme ideology, and rightly so.

      September 7, 2011 at 1:20 pm | Report abuse |
  2. the prophet

    Texans look at your Government they letting your state burn, where is the social justice and Government aid you deserve? Don't let any political convention take place in Texas, reject the federalists

    September 6, 2011 at 10:20 pm | Report abuse |
  3. kmay

    I live in Texas. I have seen the fire – first hand. It's really really sad. Bastrop is having a hard time getting this fire under control due to the weather/dry conditions. It's hard to imagine a fire that is 20+ miles long!!! Other parts of Texas are having similar issues – east Texas...etc. I am hoping for rain. My heart goes out to the people who have lost EVERYTHING!

    If you want to help – please look at websites, such as the red cross. People in Texas always help when there are other disasters! (myself being a Texan who has helped when others needed it)

    September 7, 2011 at 12:11 am | Report abuse |
  4. jamiereuter

    It is the biggest of dozens of fires burning across Texas and has consumed half of Bastrop State Park.
    http://bit.ly/oOk5do

    September 7, 2011 at 4:09 am | Report abuse |
  5. justathought

    I haven't been here for a couple days, I guess I shouldn't expect any changes in the personalties that get on this forum. The words needed to describe some of the lowbrows are not allowed, but I have a feeling that their brains must really be fried by the drugs they use. I doubt that if they were to go though a catastrophe of this sort they would be snorting their best while they were suronded by flames and making wise cracks. I don't say this in jest, but it seems that Texas may soon have more wildfires than California ever had, which I thought held the record. Like I've said to friends, in jest, but it is not funny any longer, all we need is a 8.+ earthquake in the east, an other huge hurricane in the south, 10 ft snow storms in the north, a devastating tsunami on the west coast and with the politicans we have in Washington and we just won't have a country left.

    September 7, 2011 at 7:55 am | Report abuse |
  6. fernace

    Oohh, justathought, "cancel,cancel" as my friend Helen says! Please don't join the prophet in the dooms day predictions! We're strong, determined & can get through this as people did in Joplin, as flood victims have in several states & as natural disaster survivors do, the world over! Also, we're not going to let the totally crazy people in Washington run things, we'll work with the semi-sane(lol)! The US is gonna be OK!! Y'all hear me!?!

    September 7, 2011 at 11:32 am | Report abuse |
  7. Smalltowner

    I heard that funding was cut to the rural fire departments for fighting the fires down there and that it was Gov. Perry who slashed the budget. Is there any truth to that?

    September 7, 2011 at 1:49 pm | Report abuse |
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