BASTROP, Texas (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry says a 100-member search team will comb an area of Texas near Austin for more possible victims from a massive wildfire already blamed for two deaths.
Perry said the search of Bastrop will begin Wednesday morning. The blaze has destroyed more than 600 homes in and around Bastrop. Authorities said Tuesday that two people have died in one of the most destructive Texas wildfires in history.
Perry said late Tuesday he deployed Texas Task Force 1, the state's elite search team, to help local authorities. The team includes a dozen search dogs.
Texas Task Force 1 was also sent to New York following the Sept. 11 attacks and to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Wildfires have scorched more than 45 square miles around Bastrop.
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