MASON COUNTY, Texas – Firefighters are battling well over a dozen wildfires across Texas, including one that was still burning in Mason County on Saturday night.

Thanks to the hard work of firefighters and some help from Mother Nature, the North Art Complex fire is well on its way to being fully contained.

Local and state fire departments made great progress after heavy rains in the area put out the fire Friday night. Thanks to this reinforcement, firefighters were able to begin cleanup efforts on Saturday.

“We have expanded the fire to several roads, which is always a good sign,” said Kayla Driver of the Texas A&M Forest Service. “So we’re continuing to work and keep going to put the fire out.”

Despite this progress, the fire has already devastated more than 1,700 hectares of land after several fires that broke out on Thursday night merged into a single blaze early Friday.

“The fire started from lightning strikes. It started with multiple fires and ignition points,” Driver said. “And then these fires, which were in this very small, tight circle, grew together into a single area.”

The emergency services dropped one fire-fighting device after another onto the fire from aircraft and tightened the containment lines on the ground.

“And that’s why we tie in these dozer lines from these multiple ignition points so we can keep things under control all the way around,” Driver said.

As of 8:26 p.m. on August 24, the fire at the North Art Complex was 95% contained.

The fire in Mason County is just one of many wildfires in Texas; seven new fires broke out on Friday alone.

In Bastrop County, firefighters managed to contain the Pine Dump fire by Saturday evening. The fire broke out west of Smithville on Thursday evening. Firefighters spent most of Saturday cleaning up and monitoring hot spots that could flare up again, underscoring the high fire danger, especially in areas that have not seen recent rain.

According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, the fire destroyed about 11 acres before it was contained.