Fire Chief: Bottle-magnified sunlight ignited Possum Kingdom fire

UNDATED (AP)- A fire chief says sunlight magnified by glass bottles in an open garbage can ignited paper trash, starting a 500-acre North Texas wildfire that destroyed five homes. The July 18, 2022, fire on Possum Kingdom Lake’s western shore took eight days to contain fully. Chief Bonnie Watkins of the Possum Kingdom West Volunteer Fire Department says she found a trash can packed with paper goods, food and numerous glass bottles. She says a wind gust opened the can lid, sunlight magnified by the glass bottles ignited the paper, and the fire built rapidly and spread to nearby cedar trees.