their homes or are in harms way.
May God be with our firefighters.
Prayers for rain.
Posted on 09/04/2011 5:46:33 PM PDT by grey_whiskers
UPDATE 7:30 P.M.: Mark Stanford, the fire chief for the Texas Forest Service , said subdivisions have been evacuated there but they have no estimate on what structures have been lost.
People are being told to evacuate to the First Baptist Church in Smithville and Bastrop Middle School, Stanford said.
In addition, State Highways 71 and 21 in Bastrop County have been closed, Stanford said.
Update, 6:48 p.m.: Wildfires have consumed more than 6,000 acres in Bastrop County, and firefighters are still working to get the blazes under control.
According to Bastrop Police Department Spokesman Michal Hubbard, hundreds of homes have been evacuated, including those at the Colony, west of the city of Bastrop, and Tahitian Village to the east. Several structures have been lost, he said
(Excerpt) Read more at statesman.com ...
I wouldn’t be surprised if Arrowhead might have been called into work already.
I would suspect FF is already at work.
El Gato.....hope you and those grands (and their parents) are all in safe areas.
Prayers for all of you in Texas.
Thanks for posting an accurate reply to others who still want to blame Bush for the Katrina fiasco! Apparently, too many just gulp down whatever flavor of Kool-Aid the Dems and MSM gives them.
It WAS the LA Gov. Blanco who refused Bush’s offer for Federal aid three days before Katrina was going to even hit the coast there.
Amazing that the news media has only focused on the fires that popped up Sunday in the Austin area and Southeast of Dallas. They basically have ignored the wildfires that began days ago near Possum Kingdom Lake (about 75 miles NW of Fort Worth), where many thousands of acres were/are aflame. That is the same area that lost hundreds of homes and businesses around April to wildfires that burned about 2.5 MILLION acres. Gov. Perry requested Fed. disaster relief a half dozen times (even meeting Obama on the tarmac at the Austin airport where he tried to hand Obama the written request; Obama wouldn’t take it and told him to give it to some woman in his entourage). Obama has refused to grant Fed. disaster aid to Texas, but will readily give it to CA if they have a fire that burns only a couple of thousand acres.
Rant over. ......I wish the best for all my fellow Texans who are suffering from the drought and wildfires.
Extraordinary Wildfire event unfolding across Texas!
Anyone with fire fighting experience is being asked to call 512-978-1187 (all fire fighting resources are depleted at this time around Austin and across central TX)
Fires are moving so fast that ground crews are taking defensive measures around structures only/or evacuating downstream of the fire and pulling ground crews. Fire lines are being nearly continuously overrun on all the major fires with the strong winds in place. Thousands of homes are being threatened and hundreds are burning.
Bastrop Fire: Over 14,000 acres burning (fire is 16 miles long). 1000’s homes threatened, 300 homes lost. Fire has jumped the Colorado River in two locations. Massive evacuations are in progress. Residents in The Colony, Colovista and Tahitian Village Subdivisions must leave immediately, the fire is rapidly approaching these areas. All ground fire-fighting crews have been pulled from the front side of this fire as this fire has developed into a full-fledged fire storm with strong inflow and outflow winds near the fire resulting in erratic and very dangerous fire spread. Ground crews cannot hold front fire lines. Countless agencies are responding with at least 30 fire departments on scene and mutual aid requested from the entire state of TX. Heavy air support is dropping both water and fire retardant. Numerous roads are closed including HWY 21 and HWY 71. Fire is 0% contained
Steiner Ranch Fire: 4,000 homes threatened, 25 homes lost. Fire continues to burn in heavy brush and Cedar trees in NW Travis County near Lake Travis. Much of the Steiner Ranch area is under a mandatory evacuation order. Fire is 0% contained.
Columbus Fire: 2,000 acres burning near I-10 on the east side of Columbus. TFS dozer crews are cutting fire lines while local fire departments are offering structure protection. Fire is 20% contained.
LaGrange Fire: Heavy brush and grass fire on the north side of HWY 71 near LaGrange. Numerous homes are threatened some have been lost. No estimate on containment.
Walker County Fire: 500 acres burning near I-45 and FM 1696. 100 homes threatened. No estimate on containment.
N Hays County Fire: 25 acre fire in heavy grass. 4 homes burned, at least 50 threatened. No estimate on containment.
Spicewood Fire: 400 acres on the SW side of Lake Travis. Homes are burning, numerous homes are threatened.
Forecast:
Absolutely horrible fire weather conditions for Monday. Cold front now surging SE through C TX will reach the coast late tonight and strong NW winds will return. In Central TX winds of 20-30mph will continue now through Monday evening. Very dangerous fire weather conditions are in place and will continue with rapid spread and large long crown runs. All areas will be at critical conditions by 900am Monday and continue through 900pm Monday.
I expressed this wish with Hurricane Irene and was excoriated by certain Freepers. I guess a few coastal communities were so much more important the the hundreds of communities and homes inland.
you can see this north of smithsville
Luecke Ryan Grove
Thursday April 14, 2005 @ 05:49 PM (PDT)
While playing with the new satellite view feature of Google Maps the other day, I came across this. Smack-dab in the middle of Texas some enterprising landowner has spelled “LUECKE” (his name) using hundreds and hundreds of trees.
A little more Google searching told me that I wasn’t the first person to stumble across it. As a matter of fact, NASA noticed the oddity a long time ago and has been using it to calculate the ground area represented by a single pixel in photographs taken from space.
Yes it’s that Cedar Creek
Better late than never. My daughter and SIL live in RR.
I don’t think they have any current issues.
Monday will be another bad day though.
Thanks.
The Cedar Park fire was 2 doors down from friends of ours. (about 11:00 AM)
Little did I know that was just the begining.
Thanks for the link. I know I’ll check it often today. So far in my area the volunteer fire departments have been able to keep things in check, but with today’s wind it’s anybody’s guess what will happen. We’re all on our knees praying for rain.
Weather Underground Map Showing Fire Locations
Just keep praying....
Thanks for the ping, Kathy. I’ve been praying.
Wow! That is way cool! I hope it doesn’t burn down...if it hasn’t already....
Prayers for all in the paths of these devastating infernos!
Prayers for our Texas FRiends.This sounds really bad.
Update from Texas Forest Service:
Wildfire Update – Sept. 5, 2011
Current situation:
Texas Forest Service responded to at least 56 new fires Sunday that burned approximately 30,000 acres, including the following large fires:
BASTROP COUNTY COMPLEX, Bastrop County. 14,000 acres, no containment. Heavy airtankers and single-engine airtankers assisted on this fire that started in the Lost Pines area just northeast of Bastrop. The fire has moved unchecked for at least 16 miles to the south and has jumped the Colorado River twice. The Circle D, K.C. Estates, Pine Forest, Colovista and Tahitian Village subdivision have been evacuated. Firefighters are trying to hold the fire at FM 2571. Reports indicate possibly 300 homes have been destroyed.
STEINER RANCH, Travis County. 150 acres, no containment. The fire started just north of the Steiner Ranch subdivision. More than 1,000 homes are under mandatory evacuation in Steiner Ranch. At least 25 homes are reported lost. A Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System strike team responded.
HENDERSON #495, Henderson County. 5,000 acres, unknown containment. Three homes were saved.
#491, Limestone County. 3,000 acres, unknown containment. Six homes were saved and one was lost on this fire 20 miles east of Waco.
DELHI, Caldwell County. 1,000 acres, unknown containment. Twenty homes were saved and six were lost on this fire east of Lockhart.
BAILEY, Colorado County. 1,000 acres, unknown containment. This fast-moving fire threatened 40 homes near Columbus. Blackhawks, single-engine airtankers, and a heavy airtanker assisted.
MOORE, Smith County. 927 acres, 5 percent contained. Ten homes were evacuated and five were lost on this fire burning on the Smith/Gregg County line. Two civilian fatalities were reported.
#545, Upshur County. 500 acres, unknown containment. One hundred homes were saved; none lost. The fire is burning East of Gilmer.
LUTHERHILL, Fayette County. 400 acres, unknown containment. The community of Ruttersville was evacuated.
BONBIEW RANCH, Van Zandt County. 350 acres, unknown containment. Twenty homes were saved southeast of Canton.
CLEMANIS, Upshur County. 400 acres, 85 percent contained. Twenty homes were saved.
#543, Gregg County. 300 acres, unknown containment. Numerous homes were saved, none lost.
#538, Harrison County. 200 acres, contained. One hundred fifty homes were evacuated in a trailer park east of Longview.
#502, Nacogdoches County. 200 acres, unknown containment. More than a dozen homes have been evacuated, but none lost.
#841, Houston County. 200 acres, unknown containment. Fifteen homes were threatened east of Crockett.
PLEASANT GREEN ROAD, Gregg County. 150 acres, contained. Numerous homes evacuated and saved south of Longview.
KENNEDY ROAD, Rusk County. 150 acres, unknown containment. Numerous homes threatened, one lost.
HODDE, Travis County. 325 acres, contained. Two hundred homes were evacuated and saved east of Pflugerville. No homes reported lost.
PETTYTOWN, Caldwell County. 200 acres, 90 percent contained. Twenty homes were saved east of Lockhart.
OLD MAGNOLIA, Gregg County. 100 acres, unknown containment. No homes threatened. Two fuel tanks exploded.
SOUTH SULPHER, Hunt County. 100 acres, 70 percent contained. Five homes were threatened and two were destroyed.
#839, Leon County. 100 acres, unknown containment. Fifteen homes are reported lost.
I see some of you anti-Perry are trying to politisize this tragedy by using snide remarks and keywords.
Either offer your prayers or STFU.
I have family in Austin area too....very concerned for all .
Thanks for posting this update. I stumbled on this site for those who need info on these fires too:
God please protect our state and her citizens today and bring us needed rain!
I agree with you Wolf. This is not the time or the place.
Keep your eyes open today. Stay safe.
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