Texas on fire update post #22

[easttxchick]

We were blessed to get about 4 inches of rain off of TS Lee here in extreme Deep East Texas.
Praying you all stay safe.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Yep, the first cooler weather in months came with 45 mile per hour winds. There are/were at least 3 fires in the the Austin area yesterday. The hill country on the west side of town in particularly vulnerable. Hilly, not a lot of roads, and lots of cedar. That stuff goes off like roman candles.

At least the wind isn't blowing today.

 

[turney31]

We have had 2 days of 3 very large fires in our county. It has been heartwarming to hear how businesses in our community have jumped to with every thing from ice, water, gateraide, to pizzas. Churches cooking breakfast for emergency personnel. Another church ,a shelter for those evacuated and who lost homes. Trucking and construction cos donating bulldozers and bringing in semi truck tankers full of water. We have a police scanner and have been tuned in. We have some AWESOME volunteer fire depts. Forest service stretched beyond thin. Our sherifs dept. and Dps troopers evacuating door to door. I am proud of our emergency personel.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Normally when there are wildfires, other jurisdictions can help out. Now there are fires in so many different places in Texas, they can't bring people in from other areas. They've lost over 200 homes in the Bastrop/Smithville area, at least 25 ion the west side of town, and there are fires burning all around Austin. It is some scary stuff.

 

[mamawolf544]

to everyone affected. It is just terrible.

 

[piecemaker]

Drove around to see some of the fire earlier today. WOW is all I can say. It is so unreal seeing them, there is no way to explain. Saw one family on the edge of one fire with water hoses spraying their house and car while the Forrest service was making a bigger fire brake with the bulldozer. We have fire on all 4 sides. They are not real close to us I think the closest one is about 10-12 miles away. What worries me is most of the fires started from trees or limbs falling on power lines. The wind is blowing 20-40 miles an hour and the trees are so brittle they snap off. I did go to the dollar store and get clear tubs to pack all my pix in and will get meds and that kind of stuff in one place just in case. I can not imagine what it is like to wonder if you will have a home to come back to after you had to evacuate.

On the other side the 80 some thing temp was awesome

Thoughts and prayers to all effected

 

[piecemaker]

Quote:
Know what you mean. Famers sending out equipment every one jumping in to help where they are needed. Work at large steel recycler and they sent a truck full of water and power aid out last night. We listened to the scanner all night also. At one point they said that forest service can only work 16 hours in a row, But they were speard so thin there was no one to take their places. Luckly they got the fire so that some of them could get a few hours of down time, then started back this morning at daylight.

Please pray for rain

 

[backdoorchicken]

 

[P-Funk]

That fire is all over the news up here. I hear you and feel you. When I got one of those reverse 911 calls I loaded the horses into the trailer and took off. When I got back to stuff the chickens into the truck (I had no idea where I was going to put them) there was a helicopter flying over the ranch dropping water. It makes you think about what's important. Birth certificates? The entire 400 lb file cabinet? The Computers? Best of luck to you, the last Colorado fire scared the !@#^ out of me. But it's best to be prepared for the worst other than panic. Seriously, think about what you would miss if you had 5 minutes to leave. EDIT I forgot to mention that one month earlier we had half of the trees removed for fire mitigation purposes. Talk about timing.

 

[australorpchick]

One of my coworkers may have lost everything in one of the fires. He doesn't know yet and hasn't been allowed to go back. He's going through a divorce and he just barely moved out last week. Luckily, our company is making sure he has clothes, shoes, food and a place to stay.