Texas Wildfire Death Toll Rises To 11

Rooftops were doused with water and airtankers dumped retardant as firefighters continued to battle blazes in the aftermath of what officials called the worst single day in Texas wildfire history.

The Department of Public Safety late Monday attributed four new deaths to the fires, bringing the death toll to 11. Nine firefighters have been injured and about 1,900 people evacuated as the flames have raced across more than 1,000 square miles.

After a deadly Sunday in which four people from Oklahoma died in a crash on a smoke-shrouded highway and three people died in fires near Borger, the Department of Public Safety late Monday attributed four more deaths to the fires.

Trooper Daniel Hawthorne said four bodies found late Monday were discovered near a car in a ravine north of Miami in Roberts County. Authorities were investigating the deaths, but Hawthorne said they appeared to result from a large grass fire in Roberts County.

Two other bodies were found in the ruins of a greenhouse, reports CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan.

An oxygen tank and a cane were still plainly visible in the ashes. The elderly man's body was found next to that of the young volunteer firefighter who had run up the hill to rescue him.

"She was definitely a hero. She gave her life to try to save her neighbor," said Hutchinson County Fire Marshall Danny Richards.

"We share in the grief of those who have lost family members and loved ones, and we offer our prayers," Gov. Rick Perry said. "Throughout this wildfire season, communities in our state have shown strength and resolve that are uniquely Texan."

Eleven fires were burning across an estimated nearly 700,000 acres Monday, up from 663,000 over the weekend. State fire crews fought more than 160 blazes in one 24-hour period.

Jennifer Orand, who had just moved into a new doublewide mobile home in Texroy with her husband, couldn't even find their wedding rings.

"There's nothing left," she told CBS News. "I just started crying."

Though winds also died down Monday, fire crews struggled with the effects of Sunday's damage, which broke the previous one-day mark of 326,000 in 1996, said Forest Service spokesman Warren Bielenberg.

The size of the scorched area easily eclipsed the 455,000 acres that burned in December and January, when the governor declared a disaster.

A series of rural fires stretching through Collinsworth, Wheeler, Carson, Hutchinson, Donley and Gray counties, scorched some 652,000 acres by Monday night, the Texas Forest Service reported. The fire was 40 percent contained.

Another wildfire in Childress and Cottle counties, reached 45,000 acres, the Texas Forest Service said. It was 60 percent contained.

The National Weather Service in Amarillo said dry conditions were expected to persist Tuesday but firefighting efforts could be aided by lighter winds.

The rash of fires prompted the evacuation of eight towns: Hoover, Lefors, McLean, Miami, Old Mobeetie, New Mobeetie, Skellytown and Wheeler.

Dead cattle dotted the landscape, some looking as if they had tried to run straight through barbed wire to escape the searing flames.

"I heard of one of my friends who was out shooting cows this morning that were suffering because they were burned up too bad," said resident John Spearoan.

About 3.5 million acres — 2 percent of the state's land mass — have burned since Dec. 26, said Rachael Novier, a spokeswoman for Perry.

"This has been a very deadly wildfire season, but Texas communities have shown strength, and we're going to continue fighting these fires from the ground and from the air," Novier said.