Fires

[Marilyn]

It is so dry here, and there was a lot of wind yesterday, so we had a couple of fires in the area. The whole town was blanketed with smoke. Here's a link to an article. If you click on the picture, you can it will enlarge, and you can click next to scroll through 11 pictures. We live on the other side of town from the fires, and even our neighborhood was blanketed with smoke yesterday afternoon. Thankfully no one was hurt.

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/847/story/422460.html

[Janet]

Oh my goodness. We've had a field fire during harvest if it's been dry, but nothing like that. I feel so bad for those that have breathing problems, not good at all with all that smoke. Thanks for the link Marilyn. The pictures showed quite a bit.

[gja1000]

Goodness, I hadn't heard about the fires! That is so scary! It is so easy to get one started on days like yesterday and when it is so dry. Texas in general, but especially central/south Texas are in a severe drought and we are likely to have more fires in more areas. Yesterday was unusual due to the high winds. They were fierce all day long. It is still a bit windy for us, but not like yesterday.

Gary just tried to stay inside yesterday - we think it was the wind/dust blowing in Oklahoma (where the wind blows everyday) that kicked up his bronchospasms in Dec/Jan. So when the dust was blowing yesterday, he just stayed inside. He would not have been able to get out of the house with smoke like that!!!

Stay safe, Marilyn

[Blueyes]

I saw a report on the news about the fires. You guys be careful:eek:

[gja1000]

Well, this shows how much I am NOT paying attention to the new these days. There was a fire in the county (Bastrop) next to the county where I live and several homes were burned. :( This may all be just the tip of the iceburg - concerning dry brush and fires this year. I don't think we are predicted to have much rain again this year and we are already so dry. When the wind blows, it is going to be back.

[donna1990]

We had fires also and I could not go outside because I am allergic to smoke.
We had a lot of rain today, Thank God.

[DianaB]

We've been dry too and very windy this winter. On the site where I check my weather we've been in a severe warning most of the winter for fire. This time of year the farmers start burning off their pastures and we have fires around a lot.

We got a call one Sunday while we were at church (services were over) and we were told that we had a fire close to our house so we drove like crazy, even passing a police car, to get home. By the time we got here the fire was in the yard about 30 feet from the house. My FIL and a neighbor were out there spraying it down with a hose. A neighbor had burned off his pasture and the fire jumped the road and got away from him. We really worry about fires where our house is located.

I really hope that we all get some rain. This has been a really dry winter for us too.

[Marilyn]

I don't believe our home would be in danger from a brush fire. There is a brushy field across the street from our subdivision, but there are two streets between us and the field, no homes, but the fire would have to jump both streets. The golf course behind us is dry, but they do run the sprinklers some, so all we get is the smoke from fires in the area.

There are farmers and ranchers who do controlled burns every year, but we've been under a burn ban for months, and unless we get some rain, they won't be able to burn this year. They do it on a not so windy day, so the smoke goes pretty much straight up. With the winds we are having, if there is a brush fire, whoever is down wind is gonna get the smoke. The city was downwind from both the fires on Saturday, so we all got a good dose.

This is nothing like the fires in California. Since we are on relatively flat land, you don't get the same wind effects that they do in California to start the huge raging fires, thank goodness!!

[DianaB]

This is from the National Weather Service for our area......

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL KANSAS...
SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER INDEX WILL CLIMB INTO THE HIGH CATEGORY
THIS AFTERNOON...FROM THE FLINT HILLS WESTWARD ACROSS MOST OF
CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS. VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER IS
EXPECTED FOR AREAS TO THE WEST OF HIGHWAY 14...OR GENERALLY WEST
OF A LINCOLN TO LYONS TO ANTHONY LINE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER IS EXPECTED ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON...FROM THE
FLINT HILLS WESTWARD ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL
KANSAS. HIGH FIRE DANGER IS EXPECTED ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS
SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

HIGH FIRE DANGER IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA ON WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON...WITH HIGH TO VERY HIGH FIRE DANGER EXPECTED ACROSS
MUCH OF THE AREA ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.

Hopefully we won't have someone go and burn their trash or burn off a pasture, or worse yet, just start a fire for the fun of it, which unfortunately does happen. We've had these warnings all winter which is really unusual.

[Janet]

Is there any rain at all in the forecast Diana?

[gja1000]

There were 25 homes and 12 businesses destroyed by the fires near Austin over the weekend. Very very bad and very scary. We are so dry here in central Texas, I fear this won't be out last bout with fire!

[Marilyn]

There was another fire in our county yesterday afternoon. So far over 2000 acres have burned. Thankfully only one house has been destroyed. There were some barns lost, and one rancher lost 35 head of cattle. So sad!!!

It wasn't as windy today, so hopefully things will settle down a bit. Two of the fires were attributed to people burning trash. You'd think they would be more careful.

Diana, you take care and keep that yard watered!!

[DianaB]

Is there any rain at all in the forecast Diana?

No, no rain. It's been like this all winter and when we have had a forecast for rain we've gotten just a trickle. I sure hope that this isn't what summer will be like. My son is coming back to farm with us and all of us really need a good crop.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Fredonia&state=KS&site=ICT&textField1=37.5329&textField2=-95.824

Marilyn and Gayle, I hope for all of our sakes that we get a really good rain shower and end all of this fire worry.

[judy]

This is so scary! Just be safe! How awful for those who lost their homes and got hurt.

[gja1000]

OMG! The area around my hometown in Oklahoma is ON FIRE!!! http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/06/Oklahoma.town.fire/ The fire started very near our family farm, but thankfully did not move over our land. It traveled about 10 miles north to my town of Taloga. It has moved west and north now and best i can tell it has burned for about 20-30 miles!

The wind is blowing terrifically, which of course makes it very difficult to contain. There are nothing but tiny little towns in the area with tiny little fire trucks with limited water capacity. I think they have almost got it contained, but it is really scary!!!

[judy]

Oh Gayle! I'm praying that it misses that beautiful farm with the creek. I'm also praying that nobody gets hurt.

[gja1000]

Oh Gayle! I'm praying that it misses that beautiful farm with the creek. I'm also praying that nobody gets hurt.


I just talked to the guy that rents our farm and it DID burn that area at/near/or on that beautiful creek (I won't be sure of the exact location of the fire for a few more days). I thought the fire was quite a bit away from our farm. Turns out it was not. It did not burn any of the farm that my mom and I own, but did burn some that my cousins own. The farm was originally owned by our grandparents and they left it to their children (my mom, aunt, and uncle). My aunt and uncle are deceased so their children (my cousins) own the other 2/3 of the farm. 1/3 of it was burned, but I don't know how much. My cousin is out of town on business and I can't reach her yet. She'll be able to go up and scope out the damage when she returns. DANG IT!!!

[Janet]

If there wasn't anything valuable, just land and brush....isn't it like a rebirth also? Where in time things will be even better? I don't know much about this, just different things I've heard. I'm glad your area was safe from the fire.

[DianaB]

That's true, Janet. That's why the farmers burn off their pastures in the springtime.

As long as you didn't lose anything important (buildings, hay, etc) then the fire wouldn't damage your land, Gayle.

Yesterday was a calm day and I could smell smoke in the air so someone must have burned off their pasture. This morning the yard REALLY smells like smoke and it's very windy. I sure hope that the fire from yesterday didn't start up again because Glen's out of town for the day. I think that I'll check with my SIL about it before I go out of town. He's a rural fire fighter. We have a lot of grassy pasture south of our house.

[DianaB]

That's true, Janet. That's why the farmers burn off their pastures in the springtime.

As long as you didn't lose anything important (buildings, hay, etc) then the fire wouldn't damage your land, Gayle.

Yesterday was a calm day and I could smell smoke in the air so someone must have burned off their pasture. This morning the yard REALLY smells like smoke and it's very windy. I sure hope that the fire from yesterday didn't start up again because Glen's out of town for the day. I think that I'll check with my SIL about it before I go out of town. He's a rural fire fighter. We have a lot of grassy pasture south of our house.


The wind has calmed down and the smokey smell is gone. Whew!!! I feel a lot better. It's always a worry in the springtime since we have the grassy pasture right next to us.

[Janet]

I thought I had heard or read that and I think it was when the fires were going so bad in California.

[gja1000]

Yep, you are right, if we have rain, then everything will come back greener and better after having the old winter thatch burned off. What we have to do is check the fence line. There were wood fence posts on the ranch and if the fire was very hot, then they will likely have to be replaced. My cousin is going up there this week to check it out.

[Janet]

I hope there won't be too much work for him to do.

[gja1000]

I hope there won't be too much work for him to do.

"Him" is a her! LOL! She'll assess the damage and then we'll get the guy who rents the pasture to run cattle, to fix the fence (it's tax deductable, thankfully!)

[gja1000]

http://www.tirebiter.com/rjp/prophet-farm/dewey-county-fire-090308.pdf

Here's an article from a little paper in Clinton Oklahoma, near the fires. Be sure to scroll down to the complete bottom of the page, not just the bottom of the article for more pictures.

[DianaB]

Wow!!! That was a much bigger fire than I was imagining!!!! It's a wonder that you didn't lose buildings on your farm!!! The article said that it was 9 miles by 20 miles!! That's a big area!! I'm glad that things weren't worse.

[gja1000]

Yep, a really big area - 60,000 acres. ! I loved the picture in the paper where the fire was stopped cold by the green wheat field! So cool!

[judy]

Wow! Glad that's over for you. So it's just the fence? That's very good news.

[gja1000]

Yep, it's just the fence - we don't know yet how many posts will need to be replaced, we'll find out soon.

[Janet]

Awesome pictures Gayle. I'm glad you didn't have anything more destroyed.

[judy]

Awesome pictures Gayle. I'm glad you didn't have anything more destroyed.

I feel the same way!

[Marilyn]

That was some fire!!! There is smoke all around the town where I work, again today. Not sure what's burning. Nothing like in Oklahoma, I'm sure. We're supposed to get some rain tonight. So far nothing though.