Lee Bentley from Northern California watches as an aerial firefighting helicopter drops retardant on the Dyer Mill fire in Grimes County, Texas on June 21, 2011. (Matthew Crawley)

The Dyer Mill Fire in Grimes County became the top priority of Texas Forest Service on Tuesday as the fire continued to grow for a third day.  I spent several hours with firefighter Lee Bentley from Northern California, who has been brought in as part as the incident management team which is coordinating the battle.  We visited some of the fire crews battling the fires scattered over the more than 5800 acres scorched by the fire. It is smokey, dusty, hot and not easy to make to area where the fire is burning.

One particular hotspot we saw that was giving the fire crews a bit of trouble was on “Sparks Lane.”  The aerial crews have a definite advantage in seeing the fire as they made runs with numerous types of aircraft.  Although that vision didn’t stop us from getting speckled with fire retardant from on aerial tanker.

We also met Laitkep family that was providing water from their pond for the fire crews to use in their battle with the fires.

And the Seaton United Methodist Church gets the final word tonight as the expected rain didn’t fall this afternoon.

The sign outside the Seaton United Methodist Church in the evacuation zone urges passers-by to "Pray for Rain." The hoped for rain failed to fall on the Dyer Mill fire in Grimes County, Texas on June 21, 2011. (Matthew Crawley)