By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 5:51 AM on 7th September 2011 . Two people have died in a monstrous wildfire raging southeast of Austin, officials said on Tuesday. The deaths of the two people in the 33,000-acre Bastrop County Complex fire bring the death toll of Labor Day weekend fires across the state to four, including a mother and infant daughter who died in northeast Texas on Monday. Officials declined to provide details on the deaths, other than to say they were not public safety responders. Destroyed: A burned out house and cars are seen near Magnolia, Texas on Tuesday . Devastating: Eric Kemper leans on the wall of what used to be his house that was burned down by the wildfire near Bastrop, Texas on Tuesday . Alight: A gas leak continues to burn after a home was destroyed as a wildfire burns out of control near Bastrop . Wildfires sweeping across . drought-stricken Texas have destroyed more than 1,000 homes and forced . thousands of evacuations in the last several days. The . worst of the fires, the Bastrop County Complex fire, located about 30 . miles southeast of Austin, has destroyed some 550 homes, the most of any . single fire in Texas history. About 5,000 people have been evacuated in . Bastrop County alone. 'It . is certainly a remarkable fire in terms of evacuations and the number of . homes that have burned,' said Ken Frederick, spokesman for the National . Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. 'In terms of the lives that . have been disrupted, this is a major set of fires.' In . addition to the Bastrop and Leander fires, the Texas Forest Service has . responded to at least 85 new blazes in the last 48 hours, burning on . more than 32,000 acres. The fires have injured three firefighters, none . seriously, according to officials. The . Bastrop County fire stretches for 24 miles long and 20 miles wide at . its widest point and is still uncontained. Evacuations were still . underway on Tuesday afternoon. Texas . Governor Rick Perry, the frontrunner among Republican presidential . candidates, cancelled his appearance at a candidate roundtable in South . Carolina on Monday to return to Austin . He told reporters there on Tuesday . that he was focused on the firefighting effort and didn't know whether . he would attend a Republican candidates debate in California on . Wednesday. What remains: Eric Kemper looks for items in what used to be his house that was burned down by a wildfire . Salvaged: Eric Kemper looks at a letter written by his sister-in-law, who was killed in Iraq. The letter was stored in a fireproof cabinet in his home . Ash: The burned remains of what used to be a house that was burned down as wildfires burn out of control near Bastrop . Dead: Trees are left burned in Bastrop State Park after a wildfire burned through out of control near Bastrop . More than . 3.6million acres in Texas have been scorched by wildfires since . November, fed by a continuing drought that has caused more than . $5billion in damage to the state's agricultural industry and that shows . no sign of easing. Dawn . Camp, 33, a fire evacuee from Leander, about 10 miles west of the . Austin city limits, hadn't heard the phone ring and didn't hear the . official evacuation message on Monday evening, so she didn't know it was . time to flee her home until she smelled smoke and walked out the front . door to see her neighbour's home burning. 'Fire was raining down on my yard,' she said. She . grabbed her children, put them in the car, and started down the road. A . block later, she jumped out and gave the keys to her 18-year-old . daughter, who spirited away her younger siblings, ages 8 and 10, to . their great-grandmother's house. Camp . then walked home to coax their two cats, Bugbite and Moonshine, out of . the house. But police were standing in her front yard. Inferno: A fire rages near Highway 71 east of Bastrop, Texas on Monday . Deadly: A wildfire burns out of control in Bastrop State Park near Bastrop, Texas . 'They . wouldn't let me back in,' she said, standing outside the shelter at . Rouse High School in Leander. Walking along a main street through the . quiet subdivision, Camp said the smoke was so thick she couldn't see or . breathe. A passerby picked her . up, and she was able to rejoin her family. On Tuesday afternoon, a . relieved Camp reported that she was able to see her house - and both the . home and the cats were 'just fine.' 'I . saw some houses that were burned, but our little half of the street was . fine,' Camp said. The cats 'were thirsty, but they were wonderful.' The wildfire in Leander had been . extinguished by Tuesday afternoon and had destroyed at least a dozen . homes and threatened 150 more. Police . in Leander were also investigating as arson a wildfire that destroyed . nearly a dozen homes in that city and caused the evacuations of 500, . according to residents and media reports. Investigators were searching . for three teens in connection to that fire, which officials said caused . some $1.4million damage. Address: Texas Governor Rick Perry (C) speaks at a media conference in Bastrop, Texas on Tuesday . Roaring blaze: Blackened forest is left behind as large wildfire burns on Tuesday near Magnolia, Texas. More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in at least 57 wildfires across the rain-starved state . This week's explosive growth in the Texas fires was driven by high winds, spawned by Tropical Storm Lee, with flames leaping from tree to tree at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. 'Due to the prolonged dry weather, any spark whatsoever could cause a fire,' said Travis County Sheriff's spokesman Roger Wade, speaking of the Steiner Ranch fire, which claimed 35 homes. Schools were closed and churches were filled with evacuees across Central Texas Tuesday, and blazes were still being fought in North Texas near Fort Worth and east to Houston. About 30 miles north of Houston, 400 homes have been evacuated in a 150-acre fire. In the past seven days, the forest service has responded to 181 fires for 118,413 acres - and those were just the blazes being managed by the state. About 375 firefighters are on the ground fighting fires, and the Texas Forest Service has requested another 300 to 400 from outside the state. Some 3.4million acres have burned in Texas since the state's worst fire season in history began last November.
3.4million acres burned since fire season began last November .
Forest service has responded to 181 fires for 118,413 acres in last seven days .
550 homes destroyed in Bastrop County Complex fire - the most of any single fire in Texas history .
5,000 people evacuated in Bastrop alone .
By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 5:51 AM on 7th September 2011 . Two people have died in a monstrous wildfire raging southeast of Austin, officials said on Tuesday. The deaths of the two people in the 33,000-acre Bastrop County Complex fire bring the death toll of Labor Day weekend fires across the state to four, including a mother and infant daughter who died in northeast Texas on Monday. Officials declined to provide details on the deaths, other than to say they were not public safety responders. Destroyed: A burned out house and cars are seen near Magnolia, Texas on Tuesday . Devastating: Eric Kemper leans on the wall of what used to be his house that was burned down by the wildfire near Bastrop, Texas on Tuesday . Alight: A gas leak continues to burn after a home was destroyed as a wildfire burns out of control near Bastrop . Wildfires sweeping across . drought-stricken Texas have destroyed more than 1,000 homes and forced . thousands of evacuations in the last several days. The . worst of the fires, the Bastrop County Complex fire, located about 30 . miles southeast of Austin, has destroyed some 550 homes, the most of any . single fire in Texas history. About 5,000 people have been evacuated in . Bastrop County alone. 'It . is certainly a remarkable fire in terms of evacuations and the number of . homes that have burned,' said Ken Frederick, spokesman for the National . Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. 'In terms of the lives that . have been disrupted, this is a major set of fires.' In . addition to the Bastrop and Leander fires, the Texas Forest Service has . responded to at least 85 new blazes in the last 48 hours, burning on . more than 32,000 acres. The fires have injured three firefighters, none . seriously, according to officials. The . Bastrop County fire stretches for 24 miles long and 20 miles wide at . its widest point and is still uncontained. Evacuations were still . underway on Tuesday afternoon. Texas . Governor Rick Perry, the frontrunner among Republican presidential . candidates, cancelled his appearance at a candidate roundtable in South . Carolina on Monday to return to Austin . He told reporters there on Tuesday . that he was focused on the firefighting effort and didn't know whether . he would attend a Republican candidates debate in California on . Wednesday. What remains: Eric Kemper looks for items in what used to be his house that was burned down by a wildfire . Salvaged: Eric Kemper looks at a letter written by his sister-in-law, who was killed in Iraq. The letter was stored in a fireproof cabinet in his home . Ash: The burned remains of what used to be a house that was burned down as wildfires burn out of control near Bastrop . Dead: Trees are left burned in Bastrop State Park after a wildfire burned through out of control near Bastrop . More than . 3.6million acres in Texas have been scorched by wildfires since . November, fed by a continuing drought that has caused more than . $5billion in damage to the state's agricultural industry and that shows . no sign of easing. Dawn . Camp, 33, a fire evacuee from Leander, about 10 miles west of the . Austin city limits, hadn't heard the phone ring and didn't hear the . official evacuation message on Monday evening, so she didn't know it was . time to flee her home until she smelled smoke and walked out the front . door to see her neighbour's home burning. 'Fire was raining down on my yard,' she said. She . grabbed her children, put them in the car, and started down the road. A . block later, she jumped out and gave the keys to her 18-year-old . daughter, who spirited away her younger siblings, ages 8 and 10, to . their great-grandmother's house. Camp . then walked home to coax their two cats, Bugbite and Moonshine, out of . the house. But police were standing in her front yard. Inferno: A fire rages near Highway 71 east of Bastrop, Texas on Monday . Deadly: A wildfire burns out of control in Bastrop State Park near Bastrop, Texas . 'They . wouldn't let me back in,' she said, standing outside the shelter at . Rouse High School in Leander. Walking along a main street through the . quiet subdivision, Camp said the smoke was so thick she couldn't see or . breathe. A passerby picked her . up, and she was able to rejoin her family. On Tuesday afternoon, a . relieved Camp reported that she was able to see her house - and both the . home and the cats were 'just fine.' 'I . saw some houses that were burned, but our little half of the street was . fine,' Camp said. The cats 'were thirsty, but they were wonderful.' The wildfire in Leander had been . extinguished by Tuesday afternoon and had destroyed at least a dozen . homes and threatened 150 more. Police . in Leander were also investigating as arson a wildfire that destroyed . nearly a dozen homes in that city and caused the evacuations of 500, . according to residents and media reports. Investigators were searching . for three teens in connection to that fire, which officials said caused . some $1.4million damage. Address: Texas Governor Rick Perry (C) speaks at a media conference in Bastrop, Texas on Tuesday . Roaring blaze: Blackened forest is left behind as large wildfire burns on Tuesday near Magnolia, Texas. More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in at least 57 wildfires across the rain-starved state . This week's explosive growth in the Texas fires was driven by high winds, spawned by Tropical Storm Lee, with flames leaping from tree to tree at speeds up to 60 miles per hour, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. 'Due to the prolonged dry weather, any spark whatsoever could cause a fire,' said Travis County Sheriff's spokesman Roger Wade, speaking of the Steiner Ranch fire, which claimed 35 homes. Schools were closed and churches were filled with evacuees across Central Texas Tuesday, and blazes were still being fought in North Texas near Fort Worth and east to Houston. About 30 miles north of Houston, 400 homes have been evacuated in a 150-acre fire. In the past seven days, the forest service has responded to 181 fires for 118,413 acres - and those were just the blazes being managed by the state. About 375 firefighters are on the ground fighting fires, and the Texas Forest Service has requested another 300 to 400 from outside the state. Some 3.4million acres have burned in Texas since the state's worst fire season in history began last November.
of the fires, the Bastrop County Complex fire, destroyed some 550 homes, the most of any . single fire in Texas history. About 5,000 people have been evacuated in . Bastrop County alone. service has responded to 181 fires for 118,413 season in history began last November.