Texas Fires Rage On: Governor Rick Perry Urges Residents to Heed Warnings, Burn Bans Throughout the State

Texas fires continued to ravage the state on Tuesday, keeping ban burns going in just about every county and prompting Governor Rick Perry to tell residents to heed all warnings.

More than three million acres have been burned, CBS News reported, and more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed, according to The Associated Press.

Nearly 600 of those homes were located in and around the Bastrop area, which is close to Austin, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The fires killed at least two people over the weekend, which brings the death toll to four, The AP reported.

The two people who died over the weekend were found in an evacuated neighborhood on Tuesday, according to Bastrop County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sissy Jones, the Los Angeles Times reported.

We're evacuating well ahead of the fires, and unfortunately we just have residents who refuse to leave their homes, Jones said.

The Texas Forest Service has issued burn bans throughout the state.

The only exceptions to the ban are the northeastern portion of Jack County, located in northern Texas, and a few counties that border the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is in the middle of campaigning for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, is back in the state to deal with the fires.

He took an aerial tour of the wildfire damage on Tuesday in the Steiner Ranch community, according to his Web site. He also met with emergency management and local officials.

These fires are serious and widespread, and as mean as I have ever seen, burning more than 1,000 homes since this wildfire season began, Perry said, according to a press release on his governor Web site.

Thanks to the firefighters and first responders from Texas and across the nation saving lives and family homes & possessions, Perry tweeted on Tuesday.