My sons and the Texas wildfires

My son called last night. He and his brother live about 1/2 way between Austin and Lockhart in Caldwell County, Texas. He was very concerned about the wildfires in his area, his house and all their stuff. He was more concerned about the hundreds of homes already lost, the lives lost and the firefighters on the line. He sent his 13 year old son to stay with friends in a safe zone but my other son is keeping his 2 year old son with him for now. We talked to them this morning and it seems things are a little better for the time being. The winds have calmed down and the firefighters are getting a handle on the two fires closest to them.
Please pray for the folks there in Texas, the firefighters especially, and those who have lost everything.

Jim, I hope your sons do not have to evacuate but now is the time to begin planning what to take. When my brother's family had to leave in a hurry some years ago they left behind irreplaceable pictures and family heirlooms from her grandmother. Fortunately their house did not burn but they learned a lesson. The originals of those pictures are now in a safe deposit box in town and the family keepsakes can now be loaded quickly into the cars.

Our prayers go out for the folks who live down there and for the firefighters! Please add them to your prayer list as well. *S*

Jim having been stationed at Ft hood and doing extensive air ops training with the Air Force I am very familiar with the region. Did a lot at Camp Bullis. That are can get dry as tinder this time of year. My thoughts and prayers are with all in the area.

I'm just down the road from there. I have family in that area and one person I know has lost there home. There are also guy's from our area up there helping fight the fire's but from what I've heard locally it's still not contained. I hope the lack of 30 mph north wind will give those guy's a chance today. We really need some rain here but for now I think we should just send out some prayer's to those who are affected.

We had to leave our home and most of our stuff behind in 1995. Its not very much fun, luckily the fire was contained in time so our home was ok. My Heart goes out to all the people affected by the fires I will send my prayers for all of those in harms way.

My sister lives in Hockley, TX and they had to evacuate last night as flames approached their home. This morning's update found that everything 1/2 mile from her was engulfed, including a gas station whose tanks exploded. They are not being allowed back into the area, so the fate of her home is still unknown.

I am frustrated that the news stations give a 5 minute headline about these fires. These are huge, cover an unbelievably large area and are destroying property and lives.

According to the Texas Forest service, the Bastrop County Complex fire has consumed over 33000 acres and is 0% contained.
My son's good friend lost his home and dogs because he was away and could not get back to rescue the pets.
It's not good there. They have all their things loaded in vans and trucks waiting.

This link may be of interest for some. It is a link that we use a lot for fire info when we are on assignments.

http://www.inciweb.org/


Wayne

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Originally Posted by DaveMac

I am frustrated that the news stations give a 5 minute headline about these fires. These are huge, cover an unbelievably large area and are destroying property and lives.

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Well, according to the natioanal news media, if doesn't happen on the East or West coast, it ain't national news...

One could only imagine the news coverage that such fires would receive in New York or Connecticut.

A great example was Hurricane Gustav, even though Gustav took down the power to 97% of the electrical service connections in the ENTIRE state of Louisiana, since there wasn't any real wind damage to New Olreans, the media all jumped the first planes out and never returned or reported on the true extent of Gustav's destruction.

We in Louisiana are praying for y'all in Texas AND northern Louisiana where wildfires are raging and destroying the lives and property of so many folks.