Bastrop , Texas ( CNN ) -- The wildfire raging near Austin , Texas , has destroyed nearly 1,400 homes and has `` potential for growth , '' a fire official said Thursday . The 34,000-acre Bastrop County fire remained 30 % contained late Thursday afternoon , said County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Fisher . `` There 's still some potential for growth in size , '' he said . The fire has killed two people . A search team is helping local officials scour the area for other potential victims . A line crew working to restore electricity in the area became trapped and wound up being rescued from advancing flames by helicopter , Fisher said . Victoria Koenig , spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service , said the fire has destroyed 1,368 homes -- more than double the estimate officials gave Wednesday . About 240 other homes have been lost in other fires since Sunday , the service said . Authorities said Thursday they were allowing some of the 5,000 people who had evacuated to return to their homes . For most of the past year , scores of wildfires have been burning across the drought-stricken state . In the past week , the Texas Forest Service said it has responded to 176 fires over 126,844 acres . On Wednesday alone , the service responded to 20 new fires covering 1,422 acres . Officials were expected to enlist the help of a DC-10 tanker to fight the flames , but it can not be used until Friday , when the decision will be made about when and where to use the resource , Bastrop County Judge Ronnie McDonald said . `` The crews that come in overnight are going to tell us those places that they still think they 're going to need to treat with that , '' he said . The tanker , called in by the Texas Forest Service , can drop more than 11,000 gallons of retardant at a time across a swath three quarters of a mile long and 500 feet wide . Airtankers , scoopers and helicopters have assisted in efforts to battle the Bastrop fire , the forest service said . `` Most of the forward progress of the fire has stopped , but significant intense burning continues in the interior , '' the service said Thursday . The weather may bring `` a sliver of hope in the next five to six days , '' said HLN meteorologist Bob Van Dillen . `` Tropical Storm Nate over the Bay of Campeche may spread some rain to south-central Texas next week , but those chances seem slim at this point . '' While the cause of the Bastrop fire remains unknown , officials in Leander , about 60 miles northwest of Bastrop , said they believe four teens were responsible for setting a smaller fire there that destroyed 11 homes this week , causing $ 1.4 million in damage . In Camp Bullis , north of San Antonio , a wildfire that broke out Wednesday afternoon had burned 290 acres by Thursday afternoon , said Bexar County Fire Marshall spokeswoman Laura Jesse . `` We 're thinking now , with the water drops , it 's more than 50 % contained , '' she said , referring to the drops made by four helicopters . Another fire , 15 to 20 acres in area , destroyed four homes , three storage sheds and 15 cars , but was some 95 % contained , she said . Jerry Hooten found little more than ashes when he returned to his home in Bastrop County . `` We ai n't happy about it , but we 're all alive , '' said Hooten , who is staying at an RV park outside the danger zone . `` I do n't think it 's registered in our brains that our house is gone and that , really , half of Bastrop is gone , '' said evacuee Claire Johnson . CNN 's Scott Thompson , Nicole Saidi and Jim Spellman contributed to this report .
NEW : Fire north of San Antonio ` ` more than 90 % contained '' In the past week , Texas Forest Service responds to 176 calls . Forest Service : Most of ` ` forward fire '' of Bastrop Fire has been stopped . Nearly 100 homes have been destroyed in the Bastrop fire , officials say .