Wind and dry conditions may have helped two house fires spread to neighboring properties this week in North Texas.
In Denton Wednesday, the fire department says a man was burning trash on Cottonwood Lane when a spark blew onto a neighbor's property and burned an outbuilding. The man who was burning trash was later arrested.
"A reminder that burning trash is illegal in the City of Denton!" the Denton Fire Department wrote on Facebook.
Dallas Fire Rescue responded to a fire at a house on Squaw Valley Drive Wednesday afternoon. The department says its investigation shows that fire started "after smoking material was improperly discarded in/near the backyard shed."
That fire went to two alarms, and Dallas Fire Rescue says about 50 firefighters responded to protect other homes.
"The fire also spread to the fences and neighboring homes due to high winds, but firefighters were able to limit damage to the outside of those homes," the department wrote in an email.
The initial house had severe damage to its attic and part of the roof collapsed.
These house fires come as other parts of Texas are dealing with wildfires. The Texas A&M Forest Service says 11 wildfires were burning across the state Thursday morning.
"Any small fire can quickly grow, so that means anything in someone's backyard can get into their house really quick. A fence fire can accelerate," Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said in an interview with KRLD last week.
Boyd says a single spark can lead to a fire in conditions like this, so he urges people not to use grills, fire pits or work on home construction projects during dry, breezy conditions. The National Weather Service says humidity values between 15 and 30% will combine with wind gusts up to 35 miles an hour to produce an elevated fire risk through Friday.
No rain is forecast until at least Sunday.
"Just being really conscientious about outdoor flames, sparks and anything that could cause a fire, if you can just be very careful, that's the best thing that could happen for our community and all the surrounding communities," Boyd says.