Firefighters make progress in Texas

Erich Schlegel/Getty Images

Firefighters from the Coppell Fire Department hit hot spots on a burned down house with water as they go to the wildfire-affected areas Sept. 7 in Bastrop, Texas.

Officials say firefighting crews are making progress against a massive Central Texas wildfire and have its biggest flames surrounded.

Smoldering hotspots remain Thursday across some 45 square miles blackened by the destructive Bastrop County blaze. But a spokesman for a team assisting the Texas Forest Service says crews have been able to tame many of the big flames.

Rudy Evenson says the major concern now is wind sparking hotspot flare-ups or fanning flames outside the surrounded area.

Nearly 1,400 homes have been destroyed about 25 miles east of Austin and about 5,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes.

Neighborhoods outside the area where the fire already has burned will reopen Thursday. Evenson couldn't immediately say how many of the evacuees live in those neighborhoods.