Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Texas Fires

It looks bad on the news. I know it's been very dry. Anyone here close to the fires. I hope not.
Its hard to understand sometimes why were dealing with road closings from high water and its bone dry there.

I lived where these fires started for a long time and unfortunately knew two of the people that were killed. The devastation is enormous. Supposedly supposed to start raining by weekend. It is terribly dry in most of Texas. My pond at Zephyr is down about 5 feet. I still have about 10 feet of water in the deepest part, but could sure use some rain or we may be able to pick fish up by hand.

Comparatively speaking, this is a sparsely settled area. The employment base is ranching, farming, and oil fields. The magnitude is overwhelming. They were fighting huge fires in a 40 mph wind. One of the Fire Chiefs said that stopping something like this is like trying to stop a tornado. Fires like this actually spawn small firestorm tornados. Our long term forecast says the drought has very little chance of breaking before fall. Expect a lot more of it to came. Although there is no way to minimize this destruction and these peoples loss, the real fear is that one of these will occur near a larger city or more populated area. If that occurs, the loss of property and life will be staggering.

Think about it. The 850,000 acres reported about these most recent fires will cover 1,328 square miles. This assumes my math is correct. If you add that to previous and future fires, you get an idea of the magnitude of the situation.

On Sunday, I will be traveling to Amarillo via plane and then driving on to Perryton, TX.

I will be spending about ten days in the area around Perryton.

Any and all pointers welcome!

Yesterdays paper here said there may have been as many as 10,000 cows and horses killed by these wild fires going on in Texas right now.

The news says that one of the fires has re-started from a "hot spot" that the Forest Service thought had been extinguished.

Sunil, I would call the Texas Highway Department to find out the status of the different roads. I don't know exactly where the fires were in that region. People were killed at Borger which is about 50 miles NW of Amarillo and I'm not sure of the wind direction when the fires started and ended. Perryton is about 150 miles NW of Amarillo. If the fires along those roads are extinguished, you should have no problem. Try to assure that you you keep a full tank of gas. It can sometime be hard to come by in places that the map shows as towns. BTW, I've never heard of anyone purposely going to Perryton.

Thanks, Dave. I believe that Borger and Perryton are all North East of Amarillo as opposed to North West (I've made the same mistake numerous times when telling people about the project I'll be working on).

Having said that, I'm having a tough time getting any detailed info.

I did just call the hotel I'll be staying at, and they said that there should be no problems between Amarillo and Perryton as far as traveling by road.

Sunil,
I heard on the news earlier today that they are evacuating some of the little towns northeast of Perryton.

You're right Sunil. Seems I can't tell my right hand from my left.

Try calling the Perryton Police Department. Here in the D/FW area the winds are very light. Of course, that doesn't tell you much. We're 500 or so miles away. We have a cold front pushing down from the North. That could be meaningful if they are evacuating in that part of the world. Are you real sure the trip has to be made at this time? Light rain is forecast throughout the state for the weekend.

Dave, not that I don't enjoy coming to Texas, but the home base for this project is in Perryton, which is a DRY town/county. So I would love to postpone the trip indefinitely. However, we have to get the project started.

Over the past six months, I was in Midland, Amarillo, and Houston. We have an office in Houston, so I get there a few times a year.

The forecast for the next 3 days includes some large storms over the entire state followed by cold weather. That could be a huge event for the fire situation. Most of our drying ponds are pretty insignificant considerations compared to the fire dangers. Oh, of course, I want to see my fish get their backs wet.

The WFAA weatherman this morning said this was a "multi-inch" event for central and north Texas. I have never heard them say that before. I still have my doubts. Will most likley be 5 miles north or south of me! :rolleyes:

If you guys don't get some rain soon you're going to be pulling tic's off your catfish!

Mar. 19...just caught the 5:00 o'clock news. It looks like a whole buncha green and a couple of yellow and ORANGE blobs skatin' across northern Texas! (is Yippee in order?)