Posted on 09/05/2011 11:27:31 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The 1130 news just said it is over 35,000 acres affected. Still just over 30% contained, but hope for 50% by the weekend.
The very next news story was about the severe flooding in the NE. We can’t get a drop of rain and they are flooding out.
Heard the same report and wrapped my brain around the juxtaposition...
Hurting is hurting
it just depends on the proximity I guess.
Was just watching video of Wilkes Barre flooding.
Prayers that you all are doing the best you can.
Be careful.
Just got the update on the Forest Service site linked at the source (more detail there)
· Yesterday Texas Forest Service responded to 20 new fires for 1,422 acres, including new large fires in Red River, Smith, and Cherokee/Rusk counties.
· In the past seven days Texas Forest Service has responded to 176 fires for 126,844 acres.
· A more comprehensive assessment has been completed on the Bastrop County Complex by FEMA and the State Operations Center. The total number of homes destroyed on that fire is now confirmed at 1,386. Approximately 240 additional homes have been reported lost on other fires since Sunday, for a total of approximately 1,626.
http://tfsweb.tamu.edu/main/article.aspx?id=12888
I don’t know if you’ve seen these two short video clips, but they are scary.
Another short wildfire video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxKt4w2ezw&NR=1
Some firefighters last weekend saw it moving so fast, only the top half of the grass was actually burnt.
That’s amazing.
You couldn’t get in front of something like that. And with the height of the flames, even back fires (if there was time and a good place) would be difficult.
All those homes. So very sad.
Hopefully the vegetation will return after the fast burn off.
I got an email from my BIL earlier and one of our cousins lost their home in the Cedar Creek area. The outside buildings were OK, but some embers must have landed on the roof an it caught fire.
That is most of what what happening in Bastrop the pine trees were catching fire and dropping on the rooftoops and burning the homes...
it was moving so fast there was no getting ahead of it.
and the heat from the homes burning just kept it going.
worst of worst situations
I’m so sorry. It’s going to be a long road for those who have been hit with this.
This is the first news I’ve read this morning about the fires.
It’s heartbreaking.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Wildfire-takes-aim-at-Harris-County-2162064.php
http://www.statesman.com/news/bastrop-residents-begin-to-return-home-1-400-1830663.html
I heard Lee Greenwood’s song this morning and thought of those who have lost everything in the fires and hope this will help someway. God Bless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINqibpWOzQ
Wildfire update – Sept. 9, 2011
Current situation:
· Yesterday Texas Forest Service responded to 19 new fires for 673 acres, including new large fires in Camp and Hill counties.
· In the past seven days Texas Forest Service has responded to 186 fires for 156,517 acres.
· 250 of the 254 Texas counties are reporting burn bans.
· Daily detailed fire information can be found at inciweb.org.
New large fires from yesterday (more than 100 acres in timber, 300 acres in lighter fuels; or where homes were lost):
HICKORY HILL CEMETERY, Camp County. 181 acres, contained. Burning in cutover and pine. This fire started Tuesday, however TFS resources were not utilized until yesterday.
DAM, Hill County. 250 acres, 80 percent contained. It appears that up to six homes were lost on this fire yesterday.
http://tfsweb.tamu.edu/main/article.aspx?id=12888
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/emotions-spill-over-as-impact-of-fires-sinks-1834166.html
BASTROP — Gina Thurman stood in front of a chimney and a couple of brick columns, all that was left of her home in the Tahitian Village neighborhood east of Bastrop. And yet she found wry humor and hope for the future. Crying might come later.
“It hasn’t hit me, so I haven’t cracked yet,” said Thurman, 47, who was allowed back into the neighborhood for the first time Friday. She said she was already looking forward to rebuilding with a bigger kitchen.
Nearly a week after wildfires broke out in Central Texas, emotions - sadness, disappointment, frustration, gratitude, hope - are as ubiquitous as charred pine trees.
Kathy Ashabranner and daughter Emily couldn’t hold back tears when they saw their house on a list of destroyed properties posted at the Bastrop Convention Center.
“I don’t know what to do,” said Emily Ashabranner, 23, holding a finger on her address. “I hoped it wouldn’t be there.”
For Mike Fisher, Bastrop County’s coordinator of emergency management, the operative emotion was optimism. Firefighting efforts have turned a significant corner, he said.
“We had a pretty good night. We didn’t lose any new acreage,” Fisher said Friday.
News of federal aid came late Friday as President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for Texas that will make available grants and other aid for affected residents and businesses, according to a White House press release.
The fires in Bastrop County have consumed 36,000 acres, destroyed nearly 1,400 homes and killed two people. And the danger is by no means over...............”
“For firefighters, losing houses was personal”
Eleven of the 24 firefighters of the Heart of the Pines department, including 49-year-old assistant chief Scott Sutcliffe, lost their homes.
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/for-firefighters-losing-houses-was-personal-1838236.html
That must really be hard to take for them.
Just got this breaking news from the statesman.
17 people unaccounted for after Bastrop County fires, authorities say http://letters.statesman.com/129465931layfousibofw7wqaaaaaajlrcw3spw5x3yyaaaaa
Sheriff Terry Pickering announced that authorities are searching for the missing.
More to come.
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