Wildfire destroys 300 homes near Austin, Tx

[Spacemom]

Source: MSNBC

A wildfire burning southeast of Austin, Texas, destroyed about 300 homes and was advancing unchecked on Monday through parched ranchland along a 16-mile front, authorities said.

The fire, one of dozens that crews were battling throughout the drought-stricken state, had blackened some 17,500 acres but was not threatening the state capital, as it was about 30 miles from the city and headed the opposite way. But the ferocity and speed with which it was moving made it unsafe to fight from the ground, Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Jan Amen said.

The blaze was the largest of dozens of wildfires burning throughout the state, including 63 that had started since Sunday. Texas is enduring its worst drought since the 1950s, and the wildfire threat has been exacerbated by powerful wind gusts cast off by Tropical Storm Lee, hundreds of miles to the east.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44398330/ns/weather/#.TmUv6Y7F-So

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This is catastrophic. Texas is on fire.
trending #centraltxfires

[bemildred]

1. "advancing unchecked on Monday through parched ranchland along a 16-mile front, authorities said."

Sounds like SoCal during fire season.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. The ring of fire, no, not the volcanic one

but this seasonal fire works almost the same all over.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Thanks I heard about this in the morning BEFORE

structures were threatened....

This is part of the story of climactic change... and I wonder if Perry will be DEMANDING Federal help now.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. The majority of these homes were lost yesterday and last night

They estimate up to another 100 homes may already be lost in this particular fire. There are fires right now all over Central Texas and NE Texas, many of which involve evacuations and have resulted in structure damage. There are just so many of them, and resources are stretched so thin, news isn't able to keep up with them all.

We had 63 new significant fires in Texas yesterday alone. 22 of them were considered "large" (more than 100 acres in timber, 300 acres in lighter fuels; or where homes were lost) by the standards of the Texas Forestry Service.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. WOW NPR is really off this on this one

(which does not surprise me for structural reasons)

Stay safe... i wonder why CNN is not there like our fires every so often... I know rhetorical.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. Like I said, there's so many and they're everywhere, it's hard to keep up.

New ones keep popping up, and old ones keep flaring up again. The one in the story above (Bastrop) has had a major flare-up and there's another whole new fire involved in that area in the past two hours. San Antonio just had to evacuate a neighborhood due to a fire, and there is one tearing through a neighborhood in Austin right now destroying homes since yesterday. There's another just to the NE of Austin that has destroyed between 25 & 50 homes (news is very sketchy, they're stretched too thin) since last night that just had another flare-up and is causing more evacuations. And these are just the ones currently burning in the most populated areas of Central Texas alone.

One fire took out my internet yesterday, and I was reduced to the traditional media. I was amazed at how spotty the reporting was on television. Even with my internet back today up I'm still seeing smoke in places where they're not reporting fires until a couple of hours later, if at all. Like I said, there are just too many to keep up with at the moment.

[Javaman]

6. I have two friends fighting those fires and another who lost all

her pigs when the fire flashed over the area where they were being kept.

I can see the smoke plume from my home.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. I have a friend trying to get her horses out right now from a fire near Austin.

I'm sorry about your friends pigs. :(

[Warpy]

9. Someone on my fiber site went out and took pictures

of the Bastrop and Spicewood fires, looks really horrible. I knew there were fires there but had no idea how many of them there were. So far, they're mostly in the south. If they hit rangeland up north, expect the whole state to get charred.

Perhaps Perry's god does exist and is trying to get through to that crazy man that he's taken the state on the wrong track.

Nah, it's global warming. Don't expect that idiot to admit it, though.

[BrightKnight]

13. Damn! Half of Bastrop State Park has burned.

http://www.kvue.com/news/Half-of-Bastrop-State-Park-burned-129252883.html

[cutlassmama]

11. I can see the Steiner Ranch fire plume from my house too.

the fires are all over the area surrounding Austin, but so far, not in the city itself. Scary times!

[Dover]

16. New fires cropping up in Leander now.

Truly unbelievable. Will they ever be able to get them all out with these windy conditions and much of it in such hilly tough terrain? Resources are stretched very thin.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. To those of you in the middle of that

where exactly will you guys need a donation.

I am on the other side of the country and all I can do is offer a little cash.

Global Climate change predicted this by the way.

[cutlassmama]

12. there is a link in the AustinAmericanStatesman website for donations

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Thanks

:hi:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. I know there's a lot of folks here who hate Texas but put that aside for a minute

Bailey (right) and Brandi Williams evacuated with their family to Bastrop Middle School at midnight. Evacuations are expected to continue Monday as high winds and low humidity reign over region. Photo by Lizzie Chen for KUT News.

http://kutnews.org/post/central-texas-wildfires-update

Poor babies. :(

[Warpy]

17. I hate Texas for its corruption and how its oilmen spread that corruption

into the Federal government whenever they can. I hate Texas for allowing Stupid two terms as governor, followed by that raving idiot, Perry. Whenever I change planes in Dallas or Houston, I take a dump on Texas.

However, I'll be donating to the relief effort. I don't hate the people who live there. I just hate the rich and powerful there because they're the worst in the country.

Now if y'all can use this to counteract those pompadoured pulpit pounders who manage to get right wing assholes into office every election, it might be worthwhile. Almost.

[anamandujano]

18. Cool in SA last night, had the window open and smelled smoke

all night long. I didn't know what was going on.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

19. There was a 138-acre fire in Stone Oak area last night

It was started by a SAWS truck that pulled over on the side of the road in the dry grass.

There was another 200-acre fire in a vacant field near the former Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Lookout Road.

And another in south Bexar County that was started by a BBQ grill. That one burned a barn and a house, I believe.

Any one of these could have been the source of the smoke you smelled.

[hamsterjill]

20. And Fiesta Texas had fireworks.

I thought that was a little bit ridiculous considering.

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. 700 homes have been destroyed in all.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/06/texas.fires/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

snip-
Wildfires continued to rage Tuesday in Texas, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes near Austin and Houston as firefighters struggled to gain the upper hand against flames, winds and fatigue.

"Texas is in a difficult situation right now and our priorities are pretty simple. No. 1 is to protect life at all costs," said Nim Kidd, chief of the state Division of Emergency Management.

The Texas Forest Service said it has responded to 181 fires that have burned more than 118,400 acres over the last week.

The fires have killed two people and, according to the forest service, destroyed more than 700 homes since Sunday. More than 1,000 homes have burned in the state since fire season began in November, Gov. Rick Perry's office said.

-snip

What I thought were clouds yesterday afternoon ended up being a wildfire.