Grass fires elsewhere in the drought-stricken region had apparently destroyed a couple of tiny Texas towns. Other fires had destroyed homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate in Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Posted on 01/02/2006 7:43:14 AM PST by JustaCowgirl
CARBON, Texas -- Weary firefighters worked through the night attempting to contain three major fires, including one 25-mile-long blaze that charred farm fields, barns and some homes in Eastland County.
Grass fires elsewhere in the drought-stricken region had apparently destroyed a couple of tiny Texas towns. Other fires had destroyed homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate in Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Officials warned that the dry, gusty conditions and extreme fire danger would continue.
"We don't know where we will be today," Oklahoma City Fire Department Maj. Brian Stanaland said Monday morning. "At this point, we consider the whole city a target for grass fires."
Helicopters and airplanes were lined up to join the battle Monday against the lengthy, 22,400-acre blaze near Carbon and Gorman in Eastland County, about 125 miles west of Dallas, said Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Traci Weaver.
Firefighters were close to encircling the fire early Monday, but were concerned that a fore shift in wind would complicate efforts, Weaver said.
Crews flying over other sections of northern and western Texas to assess the damage Sunday reported the tiny communities of Ringgold and Kokomo, together home to about 125 people, had essentially been wiped out by flames, Weaver said.
Crews planned to conduct a house-to-house search Monday for casualties in the two towns, as well as in Cross Plains, about 25 miles west of Carbon, where more than 90 homes and a church were destroyed by flames last week. In all, four deaths were reported last week in Texas and Oklahoma.
In Carbon, Bill Sandlin and his wife packed up their clothes, pictures and his gun collection, then drove off just as flames started to engulf their house and three barns.
"We hate losing our stuff, but at least everybody's OK," Sandlin said.
About 20 homes were burned out in the 13-mile stretch from Ringgold to Nocona, Montague County Judge James Kittrell said Monday. Six homes were destroyed near Mineral Wells, Weaver said.
Dozens of fires blackened the Oklahoma landscape as wind gusted to 50 mph, including 25 blazes within Oklahoma City that forced the evacuations of two neighborhoods. Four homes were destroyed, Stanaland said Monday.
Altogether, dozens of wildfires swept across more than 5,000 acres of Oklahoma and destroyed at least a dozen homes on Sunday, said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Emergency Management.
Just across the Texas state line in New Mexico, 170 elderly residents were moved out of two nursing homes in Hobbs on Sunday, and a casino and community college in the town of 29,000 were evacuated.
On Monday, crews were mopping up after the four fires that blackened more than 65,000 acres of grassland and burned more than a dozen houses and barns in the Hobbs area.
"It's real calm; nice and cool," Dan Ware, New Mexico state Forestry Division spokesman, said Monday morning. "Basically, all the fires laid down and just kind of went to bed."
Most of the evacuated nursing home residents had been sent back to their quarters Monday, but 60 residents of one of nursing home and 50 to 75 other residents of the Hobbs area were still evacuees, said Ernie Wheeler, Hobbs emergency operations center director.
Ware had cautioned that the calmer overnight conditions wouldn't mean the area was out of the woods.
"As soon as the temperature comes up tomorrow (Monday), as soon as the wind comes up _ bam, we're off to the races again," Ware said Sunday.
I know, its terrible. I truly enjoy traveling thru those areas and visiting with the people.
where are you at? I'm in the Dallas area and we need rain, some cold weather, anything would be nice!
Thanks, those were cool! I keep wanting to know where the one(s) in NM are as I have family there also.
susie
I have a son in Plano, and 2 brothers just north of Ft. Worth, a son in San Marcos, and various other friends and family around the rest of the state. Until 2 years ago I had lived in TX most of my life. I miss it! (I know you didn't ask, but always glad to meet fellow Texians!)
susie
Mt. St. Helens isn't erupting, it's fairly quietly building a dome; gas emissions, relatively for a volcano, are minimal, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your drought.
Nor did the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980, which wasn't big enough for any weather effects anywhere either.
You either need a truly big eruption (like Pinatubo in 1991) or an eruption emitting unusual amounts of Sulfur Dioxide, like El Chichon in Mexico in 1982, to affect climate.
Droughts in the Great Plains of the US are common because they're quite close to being desert. The "Dust Bowl" in the 1930s had nothing to do with volcanism.
Correlation is not causation, particularly with one data point. And there isn't even a second data point because MSH hasn't even really erupted recently.
I'm in Tulsa, Halls (northeastern OK). I spent the Christmas holidays in McKinney, TX and in Fort Worth. It was incredibly warm and dry. It was almost too warm part of the time.
My cousin's daughter lost her house in Carbon, but thank God that no one was injured. Also the old farmhouse near Kokomo where my Dad grew up was burned down as was my uncle's barn.
it's interesting that they have Ohio in the Moderator category.
There isn't a chance in Hades that anything will burn on the ground righ tnow.
I doubt that it's on purpose, although you never know. It only takes the extreme stupidity of a few, and there are always a few. It's really hard to conceive of how clueless some people are about the consequences of their actions.
I was really worried about the fireworks on New Years. I thought the whole state could go up in flames if people started setting off fireworks. Yet I heard almost no public announcements about it. I heard a lot of noisemakers in my neighborhood at midnight, but not the usual number of fireworks. So maybe someone showed a little common sense.
Good article on what caused the "Dust Bowl" drought in the 1930s...
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0319dustbowl.html
Basically you get a horrific drought in the Great Plains when the Tropical Pacific is cool and the Tropical Atlantic is warm, as in the 1930s, shifting the jet stream.
Unfortunately, you can see the exact same conditions prevail now:
https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/products/NCODA/US058VMET-GIFwxg.NCODA.glbl_sstanomaly.gif
It's a long-term ocean SST cycle with no relation to volcanism.
And this could go on for YEARS.
That is strange. And they have my area of Northeast Oklahoma as moderate, too, and it's as dry as a bone here, and we've got pretty severe fire danger. I think maybe that map is not terribly accurate for current conditions.
We are praying daily for rain.
There are no fires near where I live, thank God. But you can smell it in the air. We had to close the windows last night because it was so thick in the air.
We are also. But it does not look like any in the forecast. However, the weather can change quickly, so we pray God answers our prayers.
yeah probably not.
I mean, we have had an inch of rain this past week along with the melting of nearly a foot of snow....
and lots more rain on the way. (and no sun)
WTF?!?!
Lay off me. Its my opinion only and I'm keeping it. This thread is to give people prayers and hope. Get off my back.
My grandparents helped settle OK when it became a state.
My heart lies with the people there.
On my way home from my parents house in East Texas we drove by several burned patches of land all along the highway. It was scary. So far there has been no fires in my city outside of dallas, but if I smell anything strange I will call the cops. I have heard sirens every now and than in the distant.
I don't think anyone is setting fires here. Too many people depend on the ranching industry. We haven't had but a quarter inch of rain here since July. The grass is so dry it's like gasoline. the creeks are dry and most of the stock tanks volunteer fire depts. depend on for pumping water. It only takes a tiny spark to start a fire--sparks from a welder, electrical short, and something we fear now, fires from catalitic converters. No one drives out in their fields now. Even the people fighting the fires threaten to start more.
Never ceases to amaze me how easily people are offended by accurate information.
Now that I've been looking around the big picture on this may be one of the more underreported weather stories of the year; the potential for a severe drought lasting many years in the Great Plains; the current global climate setup really does resemble the "Dust Bowl."
Thanks, Justa. Looks like our ranch is right in the middle of the extreme red zone, although we pretty much knew it. Haven't slept well for days. The fires burned to the very creek on the back of the place a few days ago, but it's dry. Keepng the keys in the skid steer and tractor at all times to make fire lanes. God Bless our volunteer fire depts.
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