FALLS COUNTY (August 16, 2009)--Embers from a barbecue pit in the back of a truck were the likely cause of a string of nearly 30 fires Saturday evening in Falls County that kept dozens of firefighters from more than a half-dozen departments from two counties busy, a fire official said Sunday.

Firefighters battled 28 separate fires Saturday from Wilderville to Highbank to Reagan, said Keith Kuzniarek, the assistant chief of the Reagan Volunteer Fire Department.

The biggest fires, which ranged in size from 30 acres to a half acre, were in the Wilderville area, Kuzniarek said.

Officials at first thought the fires were the work of an arsonist, but later determined that the cause was evidently embers that blew out of a barbecue pit that someone was hauling in the back of a truck.

Firefighters from Reagan, Marlin, Rosebud, Lott, Chilton, Westphalia, Bremond, Hearne and Calvert battled the flames.

Twenty-four fire units were dispatched to the area.

Rural residents also helped extinguish some of the fires.

No injuries were reported and no structures were damaged, but miles of fences are down as the result of the fires, Kuzniarek said.