Firefighters were battling an estimated 1200-acre wildfire at the Sam Houston National Forest near Cleveland on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The forest service said in a post on X a little after 7 p.

Prescribed burns are regularly conducted by fire specialists in Texas forests in an effort to clear ground-level foliage and maintain healthy landscapes. The burns are a cost-effective way to reduce fuel loading in the event of a large-scale wildfire.