Posted on 12/27/2005 2:14:07 PM PST by indcons
MUSTANG, Okla. Dec 27, 2005 — Grass fires driven by gusty wind damaged several homes in Oklahoma and threatened others in North Texas on Tuesday. Three Oklahomans suffered minor injuries, authorities said.
The biggest fire burned at least a square mile in a rural area near the town of Mustang, southwest of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Fire Maj. Brian Stanaland said. He said he did not know exactly how many homes were damaged there. One civilian suffered minor injuries.
TV station helicopter footage showed at least a half-dozen structures were burned in Mustang, but conditions appeared to improve by late afternoon.
"Everybody is out now watering their yards and standing in their yards," said Harold Percival, who lives about a mile from the Mustang fire.
Several other grass fires were brought under control in three areas of Oklahoma City. One firefighter suffered heat exhaustion and a child suffered minor burns on his hands when a shed caught fire.
In Texas, Fort Worth Fire Department Lt. Kent Worley said crews had fought nine brush fires within city limits during the first half of the day and he expected more. His department also helped battle a blaze in nearby Kennedale. The Dallas Morning News said flames in Kennedale threatened two apartment complex.
There were no immediate reports of injuries in Texas.
The cause of the Oklahoma blazes was under investigation, but officials said sparks from power lines were one possibility.
The wind in Oklahoma was clocked at 25 to 35 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph.
There was a fire this morning across the street from the land my children live on. It jumped the road and came fairly close to my daughters house before the fire dept. got it put out.
Becky
One fire was caused by some nitwit burning trash, in direct violation of the burn ban. The news also said, as soon as the firefighters got one fire out, they found another genius shooting off fireworks.
Yikes, I'm in SoCal and this is something we live with yearly during the summer into Dec. Take care.
Now a building fire in downtown Dallas. Was under renovation.
City of Cross Plains has 20 structures on fire right now.
Looks like the whole town might burn.
Another MAJOR fire just west of Coleman.
Fires going in Taylor, Brown, Callahan and Coleman counties
The problem is not fire bugs, but rather a terrible drought, the worst in North Texas in more than 40 years. On my farm, we have literally had one inch of rain since June.
Winds were 20-30 mph today, with humidity in single digits and record-breaking heat, the highs in the 80s.
One spark can spread like wildfire, pun intended.
All Freepers, please pray for rain for us.
Thanks for the ping, 2Jedismom. I hadn't seen this.
My daughter and her husband live off 121st between Broken Arrow and Coweta. Hope for all your sakes that this doesn't get worse.
OMG! The whole town of Cross Plains!!! That's the only place to pee between Abilene & Brownwood!
Thanks for the ping. I haven't heard of any fires on top of the Caprock, have you? A lucky thing, since the wind was 40+ mph today.
From KTAB TV in Abilene:
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Fire In Callahan County
Volunteer fire crews from Baird, Clyde, Eula and the Texas Forest service battled a large brush fire near Interstate 20. It happened around 2:00 in Baird near FM 2047. Officials say a man was trying to weld a fence, when sparks started a fire that soon raged out of control. Officials tell us they had a hard time accessing the fire because of the rough terrain. Crews in other parts of the Big Country battled fires in Haskell and Eastland Counties. All counties in the Big Country except for Sterling and Scurry are under a burn ban.
Stay safe! There's lots of static in the air, and that doesn't help. Earlier this month, I was trying to detangle some tiny Christmas lights outdoors after having tested them and all bulbs were in working order inside. A dry wind was blowing from the West, and I was standing under power lines. The lights were not plugged in. All of a sudden, two tiny bulbs banged against one another and because it was dusk (had taken me longer than I wanted to untangle), I saw a spark, and it looked like some bulbs lit up momentarily; I looked more closely, and the last half of the bulbs were ALL blackish and appeared to be burned out. I THEN plugged them in, and sure enough, the static had put a charge into that string and burned out half the string of lights.
They’re rioting in Africa (whistling)
They’re starving in Spain (whistling)
There’s hurricanes in Flo-ri-da (whistling)
And Texas needs rain...
Some things never change.
Prayers up for all; been in brush, grass, and forest fires over the years, and it is never anything but scary & high anxiety at best.
"I haven't heard of any fires on top of the Caprock, have you? "
No, I haven't either.
The wind blew a big-arsed tumbleweed over my fence an into my backyard. It is at least five feet in diameter.
Fire burns many structures in Cross Plains; residents forced to leave
By Celinda Emison / Reporter-News Staff Writer
December 27, 2005
Updated 7:10 p.m. Residents of Cross Plains fled into Brown County and other places Tuesday after being told they must leave their town because of a massive fire.
Cross Plains residents who gathered at the E-Z Mart convenience store at Highway 279 north of the Lake Brownwood bridge Tuesday evening said a number of buildings in their town had burned, including a church, a store, a school and homes. They said they were ordered to leave Cross Plains.
Unknown was the fate of Cross Plains' most notable site, the home of pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian and other characters. An annual event celebrating the life and career of Howard is one of the largest activities in Callahan County each year.
A steady stream of vehicles, some laden with furniture, some containing only people and their pets, gathered at E-Z Mart, one of the first places to pull off the highway south of Cross Plains.
Cross Plains resident Mike McClure said that the smoke around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday was so thick near his home that he could hardly see to get inside to rescue his three dogs. They made it out safely.
"This is a firestorm," he said.
Greg Hutchins, whose home was a mile east of Cross Plains, took a few valuables and family photos from the house before the fire reached it.
"It's gone," Hutchins said.
A tearful Brenda Willars was evacuating her family to Brownwood. She believed her house was destroyed.
"All I saw was flames," she said. She was unable to rescue several cats, dogs and sheep.
Tonie Kemp, 13, said he heard propane tanks exploding throughout Cross Plains.
Cross Plains is about 47 miles southeast of Abilene, and about 34 miles northwest of Brownwood. The population is about 1,070.
Posted 6:50 p.m. An uncontrolled grass fire has forced the evacuation of residents in the city of Cross Plains, located about 40 miles southeast of Abilene.
Abilene Reporter-News staff members are in the area to provide further details to this developing story.
http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4345110,00.html
Sad. There's not "a" school in Cross Plains....it's "THE" school. My first college boyfriend was from Cross Plains.
Very true and all so very sad.
Coleman, Callahan and other local counties have a "Mutual Aid" agreement with each other in case of disasters like this.
We have had crews fighting the Cross Plains fires and other counties have been helping us fight ours.
As far as I know no one has blamed FEMA for not putting the fires out.
We are handling it locally with local first responders.
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