Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Texas fires

Is everybody O.K. so far? I heard that 63 fires were started between Sunday and Monday. Some were burning unchecked because of the winds and the drought.

I smelled smoke around 2AM this morning and became rather concerned. Come to find out, that fire is burning a mere 14 miles NNW of me (with wind from the NNE). The fire burning through Bastrop (in Bastrop Co) is completely uncontained. Not a good situation at all!

BTW: "GUNNY" is located in that area.

Friday I was at my place north of Giddings. I saw a plume of smoke so I called it in. It turned out to be a fire one mile from my place. They got it contained pretty quick to about 20 acres. Petty awful situation all over.

Sarge, that's good news. If they can't get a jump on it when it's small they're bad news.

Kelly, that's the one that I read about. It said that the fire was too dangerous to fight on the ground with the wind, so they could only do an aerial assault on it, and it was 0% contained.

62 fires within 2 days? Lightening storms or other?

You know it's bad when a 4-lane highway doesn't provide containment!



Not lighting, that's for certain! I've heard no verified reports of the various causes.

Stay safe!

What a mess...

One just started North of Fort Worth. It was started by a car fire. Right now just about anything will get a fire started.

Looks pretty bad. Saw some news coverage this morning and they were saying the wind was a big problem in fighting these.

Just trying out the new phone gadget to see how it works.

Actually today the wind is pretty low. However a big fire creates its own winds by sucking in the oxygen as it is moving.

Our humidity is in the teens. Comfortable but built for fires.

Here's another photo a friend posted of the fire that blew through the east side of Bastrop, TX

Wow. That photo, and just watching the local 11:00 PM news/weather, makes me feel really fortunate that we are getting too much rain.

Unbelievable. God be with you folks down there.

Jesus. It reminds me of the wildfires in Ca. My heart goes out to the people down there. When the wind switches, there's no time to pack anything of value, monetary or sentimental, there's just barely enough time to get people out of the way.

So far, the Bastrop fire has burned more than 550 homes and charred 20,000 acres of pristine pine trees. That area is known as the "Lost Pines" region. It was an isolated, giant grove of huge pine trees far away from where pines normally grow. Reports I'm hearing is that the entire pine forest is expected to burn. It comes right into edge of the town of Bastrop, which sits on the shores of the Colorado River.

And when I recently crossed the Colorado between Brownwood and San Saba it was dry.

Jeez that is sad to see. I read this morning that the wildfires in Texas have burned over 1,000 homes (for all the fires) and is still only 30% contained. Damage to Texas agriculture sector is estimated to be in excess of 5.2 billion dollars.

I've heard that this will be much like the dust bowl of the 30's, whole towns abandoned. Really so sad...

Here's the "official" TPWD video-post on the fire that destroyed most of Bastrop State Park. Watch the last 20sec of the video to witness how fast the fire was moving....
TPWD - Bastrop State Park Fire

Before we settled here, the fire were how nature kept the Great Plains in check

That's right. There's even a species of pine tree that doesn't release it's seeds until it's pine cones have been thru a fire.

knobcone i think esshup. we have them here in the sierras.

also if i recall right, the CA big tree (giant sequoia) seeds stay dormant until cracked open by fire.

those pictures are incredible.

my heart goes out to all those dear texans affected.

It's funny that the news fails to report other significant fires.

In neighboring Anderson County, where we have some land, approximately 4,200 acres burned between Sunday and Monday.

In Cherokee County, just 20 miles from my home, two communities were completely evacuated as a result of fires on the Nacodoches County line.

We smelled smoke for four days straight. Ashes fell for two.

Texas Wildfires as seen from space.

Various fire locations: Texas Map

Be warned the information is OFTEN out-of-date on the above link. Just clicking on a few of the fires shows it has not been updated.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to own a NOAA weather radio capable of receiving SAME alerts. It is also a good idea if you own a scanner to make sure you know the frequencies of your local Volunteer Fire Departments.

It also helps to be a ham operator at times, such as in the recent fires here, but it is not at all necessary.