TX Pleading For Help; Budget Cuts & Lax Brush Clearance By Homeowners Not Making Things Any Easier

[hatrack]

Beleaguered firefighters battling one of the most destructive Texas fire seasons on record found themselves punished not only by searing weather, but by lax brush clearance and dwindling budgets.

With no end in sight to scores of blazes — the largest had burned 785 homes and was only 30% contained Wednesday — fire officials pleaded for more equipment, and experts urged property owners to do a better job of protecting their homes. "We needed resources yesterday," Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said, noting that he and Gov. Rick Perry — who was in California for a debate of GOP presidential contenders — were requesting that the federal government declare the state a major disaster area.

President Obama called Perry to assure the governor that requests for additional assistance would be quickly assessed, the White House said. Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency were in Texas preparing financial assessments to help pay the cost of fighting the fires. It is unclear what the federal government's share of the cost will be. In the last week, FEMA agreed to cover 75% of the expenses of fighting eight fires across the state.

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But even if firefighters were fully funded, they would still probably be overwhelmed by the latest spate of wildfires, said Carlton Britton, a retired professor of range management specializing in fire ecology at Texas Tech in Lubbock. He said Texas officials needed to do more to encourage fire prevention, including clearing brush and making controlled burns in the state's wooded suburbs. "People think it's beautiful; they just think they're in tune with Mother Nature. And they are," he said, "But Mother Nature is going to kick their butt."

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-texas-wildfires-20110908,0,4418663.story

[TexasProgresive]

1. Where's B*shbaby when you need him

That man was a cedar choppin' fool. He'd clean up that brush all by his lonesome.

[asjr]

3. Especially when the cameras were on.

[WhiteTara]

2. That's what happens when you go from a Democratic state

that cared about the world so much that Lady Bird instituted wild flowers on the roadsides to a republican rape job that although * spent half his life cleaning brush, there is no brush abatement in the state. Goodhair Perry and pukes slash the fire department budget and then cry for help from the very hand they are biting with all their worth. Thanks to the republican win/steal you Texans can now rely on God and pull up your boot straps and fight those fires. Be sure and wear a bandana to help with smoke inhalation. Good luck. I'm sorry you're in that plight.

[jwirr]

4. I am glad that President Obama is sending FEMA in but I suspect

that after they offer any kind of help they can Perry and his ilk will do nothing but complain that it was no good and did not help anyhow. At lease Christie had the balls to thank President Obama for the help his state got.

Who would have thought that the next jobs stimulus would come in the form of a disaster. First on the east coast and now in Texas. I hope we can find a better way of getting money into the economy. There is too much loss associated with disaster capitalism.

[RandySF]

5. What happened to all that rugged independence?

I half expected Perry to be out there putting those fires out with an empty bucket.