Brush Fires in Oklahoma/Texas Kill 4

[Nascar_James]

A real tragedy for the affected folks along the Texas/Oklahoma border, especially during Christmas season.

USAToday:Texas/Oklahoma Brush Fires

USA Today:

CROSS PLAINS, Texas (AP) — By the time the smoke cleared Wednesday, about 100 homes across wildfire-stricken Texas and Oklahoma lay in ruins and at least four people were dead, including two elderly women trapped in their homes by the flames.

The hardest-hit community during Tuesday's blazes was Cross Plains, a West Texas ranching and oil-and-gas town of 1,000 people some 150 miles from Dallas. Cross Plains also lost about 50 homes and a church after the flames raced through grass dried out by the region's worst drought in 50 years.

Two elderly women there were killed after being trapped in their homes, said Sparky Dean, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. And in Callisburg, near the Oklahoma line, another woman apparently fell and broke her hip and could not get out of her home before it was destroyed, firefighters said.

"We had a tornado here years ago and we thought that was devastating. This lasted for hours and hours," said Patricia Cook, a special education aide whose home was saved by her 18-year-old son, J.D., and a friend. They saw the flames approaching the house from across a field and ran to save it.

"The fire was literally nipping at their heels," she said. "He just picked up the hose and started watering things down."

Elsewhere on her block, the front brick wall and part of a side wall were all that were left standing of the First United Methodist Church. The steeple lay across the ground. Ten other homes on her street also were reduced to charcoal.

Teresa Kennedy stood with her two children Wednesday outside her mother's home, destroyed in just minutes the day before. She and her seven siblings had left their home untouched since their mother's death six years ago.

"There's nothing," a tearful Kennedy said of her childhood home, a mix of brick and wood.

Most of the homes destroyed in Cross Plains were modest, working-class houses built during the 1930s and '40s. The fire spared a town landmark, the nearly century-old house — now a museum — of Robert E. Howard, author of the "Conan the Barbarian" books.

All together, the grass fires destroyed more than 100 buildings across Texas, including 78 homes, the state emergency management agency said. Two dozen more homes were reported destroyed in Oklahoma.

Wind gusting to 40 mph drove the flames across nearly 20,000 acres in the two states. At least 73 blazes were reported in Texas over two days, and dozens more broke out in Oklahoma.

Fires were still smoldering Wednesday in four Texas counties. One new fire broke out Wednesday in an isolated area of eastern Oklahoma but was quickly contained.

Severe drought set the stage for the fires, which authorities believe were started mostly by people shooting off fireworks, tossing cigarettes or burning trash in spite of bans imposed because of the drought. A fallen power line apparently started one Oklahoma blaze.

Rainfall this year in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of North Texas, where most of the fires broke out, is about 16 inches below the average of about 35 inches, National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Moller said.

"The last time we had something quite this bad, you got to go back to about 1956, when we had 18.55 inches," Moller said.

The weather service's long-term forecasts show the drought intensifying through early 2006.

Oklahoma has received about 24 inches of rain this year, about 12 inches less than normal.

 

[bevvyd]

This is such a sad tragic story. It just amazes me how stupid some people can truly be, dry dry conditions; fire ban in effect and some losers shoot off fireworks. I hope they find them and charge them. I realize that a downed power line caused a fire but the deaths could have been avoided.

 

[no1important]

RE: Brush Fires in Oklaho

I saw this on the news, pretty sad people had to die and lose their homes.

This year seems like a bad year for tragedy.........

 

[Nascar_James]

Oklahoma Asks For Help In Battling Fires

FOXNews:

Oklahoma Calls on Neighbors to Help Battle Fires
Saturday, December 31, 2005

PINK, Okla. — Oklahoma called on firefighters from across the South to help battle wildfire outbreaks that have already killed one person, charred 30,000 acres and destroyed about 100 homes across the state.

The state has been locked in a dry spell, and 50 mph winds, low humidity and temperatures in the 70s and 80s were forecast for Sunday.

"That all adds up to very dangerous and extreme wildfire conditions," said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

She said firefighting teams from Alabama and Tennessee arrived in the state Saturday, and additional teams were expected from Florida and North Carolina. State officials asked for 14 teams in all, each with two bulldozers, two fire engines and eight firefighters.

Firefighters on Saturday were battling a 125-acre blaze near Pink, where the biggest challenge was access to the fire in an area with few paved roads, and lined with barb-wired fences and creeks, officials said.

An Army National Guard helicopter assisted the firefighters by dropping thousands of gallons of water from nearby Lake Thunderbird.

"I think the crews are getting a good handle on it," Bob Bledsoe, assistant fire chief from nearby Norman, said midday. He said no injuries or structural damage had been reported.

Oklahoma has only had about two-thirds of its normal 36 inches of rainfall for this time of year. On Tuesday, dozens of fires fueled by the dry brush broke out across the state as winds gusted to more than 40 mph. Officials declared a state of emergency Friday and sought a federal disaster declaration that would free up low-interest federal loans to help with the fire damage.

The causes of most of the fires haven't been determined, though some have been blamed on fireworks or arcing power lines.

EDIT: typo correction

 

[unclepercy]

James,
We are holding our breath in Texas too. We saw a huge grass fire just east of Abilene a few days ago. Once, we had one behind our house, and the helicopters had to come in and douse it because the trucks couldn't get back into that field.

It's like a desert here. Hey, Canada, could you spare a few drops of rain for Texas?

Uncle

 

[Jersay]

I'm sure we could.

 

[Nascar_James]

James,
We are holding our breath in Texas too. We saw a huge grass fire just east of Abilene a few days ago. Once, we had one behind our house, and the helicopters had to come in and douse it because the trucks couldn't get back into that field.

It's like a desert here. Hey, Canada, could you spare a few drops of rain for Texas?

Uncle

Uncle, hope you're well away from the fires. If you see any indication of flames approaching your home, get in your vehicle and head south (I guess Waco or Austin are safe bets). What's needed here is some (or all) of the rain storms they're getting in Oregon/California. I would welcome snow as well.

 

[FiveParadox]

Lost Lives in U.S.A.

My condolences go out to those affected.

Anyone who would be playing around with fireworks with conditions as they are down there should be charged, absolutely; and it should be a greater charge than that of simply using fireworks illegally. Something along the lines of use of a contraband product, knowingly risking widespread harm.

 

[unclepercy]

James,
We are holding our breath in Texas too. We saw a huge grass fire just east of Abilene a few days ago. Once, we had one behind our house, and the helicopters had to come in and douse it because the trucks couldn't get back into that field.

It's like a desert here. Hey, Canada, could you spare a few drops of rain for Texas?

Uncle

Uncle, hope you're well away from the fires. If you see any indication of flames approaching your home, get in your vehicle and head south (I guess Waco or Austin are safe bets). What's needed here is some (or all) of the rain storms they're getting in Oregon/California. I would welcome snow as well.

I can't leave my house unprotected. We can stave off the grass fires by watering the back of our lot which adjoin a huge drainage ditch. If fire is able to jump the ditch, we are in BIG trouble.
Shoot, we broke all records by posting an 83 degrees today, when our record had previously been 71. It's like summer in January.
I had the fans running.

Uncle

 

[FiveParadox]

Insurance?

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that you "can't leave [your] house unprotected." Do you mean from the fire, or from crooks or something while you're gone? Wouldn't insurance cover damages for something like a huge fire? If not, then I am one naïve little guy. :lol:

 

[LindzyRae]

James,
We are holding our breath in Texas too. We saw a huge grass fire just east of Abilene a few days ago. Once, we had one behind our house, and the helicopters had to come in and douse it because the trucks couldn't get back into that field.

It's like a desert here. Hey, Canada, could you spare a few drops of rain for Texas?

Uncle

Rain? Nope, not where I'm from at least. A couple feet of snow though for sure.

Seriously, best wishes to everyone, I hope all turns out ok.

 

[Nascar_James]

James,
We are holding our breath in Texas too. We saw a huge grass fire just east of Abilene a few days ago. Once, we had one behind our house, and the helicopters had to come in and douse it because the trucks couldn't get back into that field.

It's like a desert here. Hey, Canada, could you spare a few drops of rain for Texas?

Uncle

Uncle, hope you're well away from the fires. If you see any indication of flames approaching your home, get in your vehicle and head south (I guess Waco or Austin are safe bets). What's needed here is some (or all) of the rain storms they're getting in Oregon/California. I would welcome snow as well.

I can't leave my house unprotected. We can stave off the grass fires by watering the back of our lot which adjoin a huge drainage ditch. If fire is able to jump the ditch, we are in BIG trouble.
Shoot, we broke all records by posting an 83 degrees today, when our record had previously been 71. It's like summer in January.
I had the fans running.

Uncle

Uncle, water down your yard and home, all the way to the roof. Water on the ground will likely prevent flames from making it to your home.

We had a scare here last night. Smoke was everywhere, and we had a major fire along highway 75 in Jenks/Glenpool. They might have stretched it a bit, however on the news this morning, it was reported that almost half of Oklahoma is burning.

 

[unclepercy]

James,
We are holding our breath in Texas too. We saw a huge grass fire just east of Abilene a few days ago. Once, we had one behind our house, and the helicopters had to come in and douse it because the trucks couldn't get back into that field.

It's like a desert here. Hey, Canada, could you spare a few drops of rain for Texas?

Uncle

Uncle, hope you're well away from the fires. If you see any indication of flames approaching your home, get in your vehicle and head south (I guess Waco or Austin are safe bets). What's needed here is some (or all) of the rain storms they're getting in Oregon/California. I would welcome snow as well.

I can't leave my house unprotected. We can stave off the grass fires by watering the back of our lot which adjoin a huge drainage ditch. If fire is able to jump the ditch, we are in BIG trouble.
Shoot, we broke all records by posting an 83 degrees today, when our record had previously been 71. It's like summer in January.
I had the fans running.

Uncle

Uncle, water down your yard and home, all the way to the roof. Water on the ground will likely prevent flames from making it to your home.

We had a scare here last night. Smoke was everywhere, and we had a major fire along highway 75 in Jenks/Glenpool. They might have stretched it a bit, however on the news this morning, it was reported that almost half of Oklahoma is burning.

I'm so sorry. We smell it. From the north and from the west. I guess we are next. Texas is a tinderbox with crazy people shooting off fireworks and pitching cigarette butts. We need to pray for rain - anybody know a rain dance?

Uncle

 

[Nascar_James]

Due to the lack of rain and extreme dryness, we have a complete burn ban here. This does include Bar-B-Cueing. In addition, tickets have been given out for folks throwing cigarette butts out the window of their vehicles.

On the bright side, it looks like they have made arson related arrests in regards to the Oklahoma fires. An 18 year old man and 14 year old boy were arrested last week in connection to some of the fires. The fires that they deliberately set were subsequently responsible for damaging a home.

Read on ...

Oklahoma Arson Arrest

FOXNews:

Thursday, January 05, 2006

ANADARKO, Okla. — The teenage son of a former fire official was charged with arson in four blazes set in a state that has been ravaged by deadly grass fires.

Justin Wilkerson, 18, was arrested hours after Monday's fires, one of which significantly damaged a vacant home. The others were grass fires that consumed less than an acre each, police Sgt. Dwaine Miller said.

Wilkerson had bragged to others about setting the fires, Miller said. A 14-year-old boy was also arrested, police Chief David Edwards said.

Wilkerson's father, Skip Wilkerson, recently retired after serving as assistant fire chief and interim fire chief in Anadarko, a town of 6,600 about 50 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. Phone calls to his home seeking comment were not immediately returned Thursday.

Justin Wilkerson was released from jail Thursday on $10,000 bond. Under the conditions of his release, he must remain in his parents' custody and stay away from fire and matches.

Statewide, grass fires have killed two people, burned 361,000 acres and destroyed more than 220 homes and businesses since Nov. 1.