Austin residents reported acrid haze during the night of 5 October 2025 as a vacant motel and neighbouring restaurant near I-35 burned, and smoke from distant wildfires drifted across Central Texas.
The Fire Department units arrived to find an abandoned hotel fully engulfed in flames near the 2900 block of the North I-35 service road. Crews contained the blaze and reported no injuries, according to the Statesman.
