Hell: “Unprecedented drought” drives “never-before-seen wildfire situation in Texas”
http://climateprogress.org/2011/04/19/drought-wildfire-texas/Texas Wildfires: Evacuees Keep Tabs On Homes From Afar As State Burns 'Border To Border'
CNN quotes Texas Forest Service spokeswoman April Saginor: "We're actually seeing Texas burn from border to border. We've got it in west Texas, in east Texas, in north Texas, in south Texas -- it's all over the state. We've got one in the Dallas area that's four fires that have actually merged together."
Fewell, a partner in a real estate company, said residents have been desperate for accurate information – even sending as many as 100 emails an hour. "It's because they weren't living there to begin with full-time and they didn't know what was going on, and they were hearing these crazy reports," she said.
Armed with cellphones and laptops, Fewell and her team have been chatting with some residents who refused to evacuate, listening to a law enforcement scanner and even watching live feed from a security camera at one of the homes. By Tuesday afternoon, nearly 62,000 people had visited the blog in about 12 hours – up from about 800 visitors on a regular day.
The Possum Kingdom Lake fire is one of several massive blazes across the state that firefighters were battling Wednesday morning, adding up to more than 1 million acres of land burned in a little more than a week in drought-stricken Texas.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/texas-wildfire-burning-across-state_n_851555.htmlAnd they have been raging for over a month, with some merging several fires into one bigger one, etc. It is being called simply a force of nature:
GROOM, Texas, March 13, 2006
Texas Wildfires Cause Seven Deaths
Four Die In Smoke-Shrouded Highway Accident; Two Overtaken By Fire
(CBS/AP) Firefighters battled wind-driven wildfires Monday that raced across hundreds of thousands of acres of the dry southern Plains, forced the evacuation of several small towns and killed at least seven people. More than 660,000 acres had been blackened in Texas, and 100,000 more had been scorched in New Mexico.
As of Monday morning, the two blazes were about 40 percent contained, said Marilyn Grossman, communications director of the Texas Forest Service. One of the most intense fires was about 10 miles north of Pampa in the Texas Panhandle, and the wind was blowing it toward the town Monday morning, said Donny Hooper, a spokesman for Gray County Emergency Operations.
"That's the biggest concern right now," Hooper said.
North of Pampa along Texas 70, land on both sides of the highway was ablaze, producing billowing clouds of white, black and brown smoke. Fields near Interstate 40 in Gray and Donley counties also were ablaze, and blackened, rolling hills stretched for miles.
"What we saw yesterday is what our fire managers are calling a force of nature. It exceeded any suppression capabilities that we had," Grossman told CBS Radio News...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/13/national/main1391867.shtmlSome are arson:
UPDATE: TFS confirms cause of Hardin County wildfire as arson
By Teresa Mioli
Updated 01:20 p.m., Thursday, April 14, 2011
UPDATE: After further investigation, the Texas Forest Service has confirmed that the cause of a Hardin County wildfire was arson, said spokesperson Melanie Spradling.
Arson can be punishable with up to a $10,000 fine, prison time or both, Spradling said.
The TFS continues to investigate, Spradling said
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/UPDATE-TFS-confirms-cause-of-Hardin-County-1335824.phpDrought & Climate Change:
Texas Wildfires Threaten Wheat Crop, Drive Food Prices Higher
This month, raging wildfires in Texas have killed two firefighters, burned over a million acres of land and threatened thousands of homes. Three years of record droughts throughout the state have left fields full of dry and dead vegetation, making fighting the spread of wildfire flames extremely difficult...
...Some agricultural experts are now predicting that Texas will lose two thirds of this year's wheat crop to drought and fire. And Texas is not the only U.S. state suffering from widespread crop damage this spring; Kansas and Oklahoma are also dealing with serious drought conditions, while Iowa and Minnesota are facing predictions of major floods...
...As I reported in November, last year, epic flooding in Pakistan and droughts and wildfires in Russia destroyed crops and drove food prices higher in 2010. In February of this year, typhoon-related flooding in Australia contributed to yet another spike in the price of grain. All three of these historically unprecedented natural disasters--the floods in Pakistan, the wildfires in Russia and the storms in Australia--were linked by scientists to global climate change.
And the drought and wildfires now destroying crops and homes in Texas fit a pattern already predicted by climate scientists. A 2010 study by the National Resources Defense Council found that Texas would be one of many states faced with increasingly dry and barren conditions as global temperatures rise...
http://www.care2.com/causes/real-food/blog/texas-wildfires-threaten-wheat-crop-drive-food-prices-higher/Video re:
Electrical Lines Cause Texas Wildfires?
http://www.casttv.com/video/nz10x2j/n-a-electrical-lines-cause-texas-wildfires-videoCutting Pipe and Downed Powerlines:
Hot, Dry Conditions Could Make Texas Wildfires Worse
Wildfires that have scorched tens of thousands of acres of land in Texas continued to burn out of control and there are dire warnings about weather conditions that could make things even worse.
COLLEGE STATION (April 10, 2011)—Wildfires continue to rage out of control in Texas and there are dire warnings about hot, dry conditions that could make things even worse.
The biggest fire is around 125 square miles and was sparked by pipe cutting.
Another fire destroyed several structures in Fort Davis.
Volunteer firefighter Jim Fowler called the fire worst he’s seen in 13 years...
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Hot_Dry_Conditions_Could_Make_Texas_Wildfires_Worse_119562779.htmlThis is bad and no relief in sight.
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