Texas Wildfires

Bastrop, Texas (CNN) -- Firefighters southeast of Austin, Texas, battled strong winds Monday as they struggled to gain ground against a fast-moving wildfire that has so far scorched some 25,000 acres and destroyed close to 500 homes.

"We got a long way to go to get this thing contained," Gov. Rick Perry said about the fire raging near Austin. "I have seen a number of big fires in my life. This one is as mean looking as I've ever seen." Dozens of fires are burning across the parched state, the Texas Forest Service said Monday."We will pick up the pieces. We  always do,"he said.

Wildfires continue to plague Texas Texas is battling its worst fire season in state history. A record 3.5 million acres -- an area roughly the size of Connecticut, Perry said -- have burned since the start of the season in November as hot and dry weather, coupled with a historic drought, made conditions ripe for rapid fire growth. Over the weekend, officials said low relative humidity and strong winds from Lee, which made landfall as a tropical storm but then weakened, further fanned the flames. The outbreak of wildfires prompted Perry to return to Texas from South Carolina, where he was scheduled to participate in a forum for Republican presidential candidates.

The massive, uncontained fire in Bastrop County, near Austin, was the state's largest Monday. It destroyed 476 homes, according to Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald, and threatened about 1,000 others, officials with the forest service's incident management team reported. About 5,000 residents evacuated as flames approached, officials said. Officials issued a boil water notice for parts of Bastrop Monday. Dark clouds of smoke billowing across the sky could be seen miles from the fire. Satellite images Monday showed the fire stretching over about 25,000 acres, jumping the Colorado River and a highway, the Texas Forest Service said. More evacuations are likely as the fire spreads, officials said. Already, hundreds of people are in shelters as dangerous flames keep them from finding out whether their homes survived.

Firefighters used Black Hawk helicopters to douse flames with a mixture of water and fire retardant Monday, officials said.The fire forced parts of state highways 71 and 21 to shut and additional road closures were expected. At least 63 new fires across Texas on Sunday burned nearly 33,000 acres, the state's fire service said. Fires were reported in at least 17 counties.