CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The cause of a fire that lit up San José Island on Thursday afternoon and into the evening continued to be investigated Friday.
Smoke and flames from the fire could be seen over the mostly uninhabited Aransas County island Thursday at about 2:15 p.m.
Witnesses in the area speculated the fire was started when the United States Coast Guard fired a flare to mark the beginning of the Billfish Pachanga fishing tournament in Port Aransas, but that allegation could not be confirmed Friday.
"We can confirm that the Coast Guard did light a flare to commence the fishing tournament," said Seth DuMoulin of the USCG-Sector Corpus Christi's Port State Control Division. "However, at this time, there has been no confirmation that this flare started the wildfire."
DuMoulin said referred 3NEWS to the Port Aransas Fire Department, saying it was the lead agency "fighting the fire and conducting the investigation into its cause" and that the agency had "worked closely with the Port Aransas Fire Department (PAFD) to ensure that all notifications have been made to everyone on the island."
However, PAFD said it was not involved with the fire, instead suggesting getting in contact with the Rockport Volunteer Fire Department or Aransas County. An email sent to the Rockport VFD on Friday afternoon has not yet received a response.
The 34,000-acre island is home to the Bass family's San Jose Cattle Company.
DuMoulin said when the wildfire broke out, people and property on the island was secured and a P6 portable fire pump was used to help put out the fire. Once tourists were moved out of harm's way, he said the Coast Guard transported firefighters "to the affected area" and provided platforms for fighting the fire on their smaller boats.
He said neither cattle nor personal property had been destroyed in the fire, and that measures had been taken to keep the cattle safe.