Multiple fires in rural western Coryell County on the evening of October 22 and into October 23 have been classified as suspected arson by the Gatesville Fire Department and the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office, officials reported. The first blaze was reported near FM 929 west of Gatesville; volunteers from Gatesville, Levita and Evant coordinated the response as officials worked to contain the spread amid dry conditions.

The Coryell County Sheriff’s Office posted on X at 9:47 p.m. on October 22 that multiple suspicious fires were under investigation, and the Gatesville Messenger ran a front-page report on October 23 detailing the coordinated response and ongoing probe. Local reporting confirmed that no injuries were sustained, but homes, barns and grazing land sustained damage, and firefighters faced stretched resources in remote areas where water access and response times are limited.

The response highlighted the central role of volunteer fire departments across rural Coryell County. Gatesville Fire Department, Levita VFD and Evant VFD worked together under mutual-aid arrangements to reach scattered scenes. Department leaders have said crews are fatigued after the overnight operations and urged residents to remain vigilant as the region moves into a higher-risk fire season. The Sheriff’s Office has not named any persons of interest and investigators have not yet released acreage totals or a complete accounting of property loss.

Beyond immediate physical damage, the incidents have underscored broader public health and equity concerns for the county. Rural households, including off-base military families and veterans who live near Fort Cavazos, depend on the same volunteer-heavy emergency infrastructure now strained by multiple incidents. Longer travel times to remote properties, limited steady water supplies for firefighting, and fewer professional personnel amplify the risk to socially and medically vulnerable households that may lack transportation, mobility or access to emergency alerts.

The suspected arson also raises mental-health and economic stresses for affected residents. Loss of barns or grazing land directly affects livelihoods for ranching households and can compound financial insecurity in a county where emergency preparedness is uneven. Local health providers and social-service organizations may face increased demand for counseling and short-term assistance as families recover from property losses and the anxiety of a continuing arson investigation.

Policy questions are now in sharper relief at the county level: how to support volunteer departments facing fatigue and equipment limits, whether to expand water infrastructure or cache resources in fire-prone rural zones, and how to improve coordination between municipal, county and state responders. Residents and community advocates may press for increased funding, training and mental-health resources to address both the immediate fallout and the structural vulnerabilities that make rural communities more exposed to such incidents.

Investigators continue to seek information about the origin, extent of damage and any links to prior fires in the county. The Sheriff’s Office X post and coverage in the Gatesville Messenger provide the latest publicly available updates; county officials have not yet released a complete damage assessment or identified suspects. Residents with information are encouraged to contact the Sheriff’s Office as the probe continues.