Posted on 04/12/2011 3:20:04 PM PDT by luvie
Latest Updates on West Texas Fires
Large fires continue to burn out of control near Fort Davis and Alpine. Midland residents have returned home after a large fire burned Saturday evening near FM 1788.....
In true West Texas fashion, many of (West Texans) have been asking how (they) can help victims of wildfires in Midland and Fort Davis.
(Excerpt) Read more at newswest9.com ...
Texas ping....
Double damn! Fort Davis and Alpine are among my favorites spots in North America.
40 houses burned here in Midland with no loss of life or injury. Saturday, I walked out the house smelt smoke and looked south to see the whole sky black with smoke.
Ft. Davis is going to be sadly altered, I fear. It’s burned about 70,000 acres if I read correctly. ;(
I could see and smell the smoke from where I live 20 miles away. I’m so thankful there was no loss of life...except maybe livestock or pets, which is bad enough.
Are you clear from the fires?
So far, so good. We are well within the city limits, so won’t
be as apt to get them as the people in rural locations.
....I hope.....It’s just so dry!
Every year, when the wildfires hit the western US, I remember how a California airship company designed and planned to build a firefighting airship, but went out of business before they could build a prototype.
Their idea was a good one, that airships have enormous lift, compared to planes and helicopters, and they can also maintain a relative position over an area enough to not just dump their entire load at once, though they could, but to “rain” on a fire area, or an area near a fire, for many minutes, saturating it so much that fire would be halted in its tracks.
Most people worry that the column of heat rising from a fire would harm an airship, but with the exception of a severe firestorm, amounting to a “fire tornado”, this is not the case. In most cases, even so, a heat column could be avoided with the use of an infrared camera.
An airship could likewise land directly on a lake or an open water tank to quickly refill its load, while extra helium was pumped into its skin, then as the water was released, compressors would return the extra helium to tanks.
Typically, such airships have a cruising speed of about 40/mph.
“A fire burning on the Cannon Ranch south of Iraan is sending smoke into McCamey, Crane and even up into Midland-Odessa.”
It looked hazy in town when I drove in from work, and I could smell the smoke from this one. It’s about 1 1/2 hours south of here, but we are having windy conditions at this time.
That would have been a real boon to these first responders
especially at the site of the really big fires. So much area to cover and some of these locations have very limited water supplies at this time...or any time....
Mine too! I lived in Alpine many years ago.
What part of Midland? My son lives in Greenwood.
The big fire on Saturday was south of Midland close to FM 1788.
There was a small fire near Greenwood, but I don’t think it
posed much danger. Hope your son stays safe!
I have family in Alpine and Ft Davis those are the best durn spots in Texas EVER.
Thats why the ranchers NEVER complain about rain in West Texas EVER! cause its gonna get dry one day and stuffs gonna burn.
Stay safe Luv . . . We have family in Aspermont, Midland and real close friends in Alpine . . . and . . . we’re dry as a tinder box here in South Central Texas . . . everybody be careful out there!!! . . . God Bless Texas and, please don’t Mess with her . . . SMILE!
While police and fire crews were working on putting out the flames in Midland over the weekend, the Midland County Sheriff’s Office received some troubling calls about looting in the area.
When going around the neighborhoods devastated by the fires in Midland, some residents were saying that they heard about looting in the area while the blaze was at full force.
Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter said that they did hear about some looting while they were working tirelessly on containing the fire.
Well, that stinks!
Thank you, you stay safe too
Thanks, Hope! Yeah....don’t MESS with Texas! LOL!
I hope that none of your friends and/or family have been
affected by these blazes. And sure hope y’all don’t start
getting fires in your area!
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