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Texas Wildfires and Drought


msp

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BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED

FIRE WARNING

TEXAS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TEXAS

RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX

1029 PM CDT SUN SEP 4 2011

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE BASTROP

COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS.

ALL RESIDENTS IN THE TAHITIAN VILLAGE SUBDIVISION...THE COLOVISTA

SUBDIVISION...AND THE COLONY MUST EVACUATE NOW. THIS IS A MANDATORY

EVACUATION.

A MANDATORY EVACUATION NOTICE REMAINS IN EFFECT DUE TO ONGOING

WILDFIRES FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

ALL OF CIRCLE D COUNTY ACRES AREA...ALL OF THE COLONY...ALL OF THE

LAKE BASTROP ACRES SUBDIVISION...PINE VIEW WEST...LAKE BASTROP

PINE...ALL OF TAHITIAN VILLAGE...COLOVISTA...ALAN CREEK...BASTROP

STATE PARK...COTTLE TOWN TO THE RIVER...RESIDENTS ALONG HARMON

ROAD AND PINE HILL LOOP...ALL HOMES ON SCHWANTZ RANCH ROAD...ALL

HOMES ON OLD POTATO ROAD...AND ALL HOMES ALONG HIGHWAY 21 EAST

EXTENDING TO PAIGE...ALL HOMES FROM 2571 FURR MAYS ROAD WEST TO

HIGHWAY 304 AND FM 2571...RESIDENTS ALONG YOUNG SCHOOL HOUSE ROAD

AND HALL ROAD...EISLEY ROAD...TINER CUTOFF...OAK HILL CEMETERY

ROAD...CRAPE MYRTLE DRIVE...AND HERRON TRAIL...ALL RESIDENTS IN

PINE VALLEY LOOP....LA REATA SUBDIVISION...AND ALL HOMES ON

WILHELM WAY...LEE ROAD...WHITWORTH LANE...AND ON THE EASTERN SIDE

OF WATTERSON ROAD.

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More information from Jeff (Pro Met HCFCD) on KHOU: re: cold front and the effects tomorrow...

I cannot stress how dangerous tomorrow is going to be. PM winds 30-40mph with RH less than 20% all areas. Massive fires are likely and they will be unstoppable. Fire lines will be compromised. Everyone should have a plan of action for a wildfire and be prepared to use it on Monday if needed. Hundreds of more homes are going to be lost.

Central TX, no help tonight as cold front is surging southward and winds are already 20-30mph at Austin and those winds will continue overnight with no RH recovery. Ongoing fires will continue to burn out of control.

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My parents have been evacuated in Gregg County (east Texas); tons of massive fires in Gregg, Upsher, Harrison counties raging now; have claimed the life of a mother and her baby already today. :(

The fire that has made my parents evacuate is already 1,000 acres and spreading fast - several homes already destroyed.

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Another e-mail from Jeff:

Extraordinary Wildfire event unfolding across Texas!

Anyone with fire fighting experience is being asked to call 512-978-1187 (all fire fighting resources are depleted at this time around Austin and across central TX)

Fires are moving so fast that ground crews are taking defensive measures around structures only/or evacuating downstream of the fire and pulling ground crews. Fire lines are being nearly continuously overrun on all the major fires with the strong winds in place. Thousands of homes are being threatened and hundreds are burning.

Bastrop Fire: Over 14,000 acres burning (fire is 16 miles long). 1000’s homes threatened, 300 homes lost. Fire has jumped the Colorado River in two locations. Massive evacuations are in progress. Residents in The Colony, Colovista and Tahitian Village Subdivisions must leave immediately, the fire is rapidly approaching these areas. All ground fire-fighting crews have been pulled from the front side of this fire as this fire has developed into a full-fledged fire storm with strong inflow and outflow winds near the fire resulting in erratic and very dangerous fire spread. Ground crews cannot hold front fire lines. Countless agencies are responding with at least 30 fire departments on scene and mutual aid requested from the entire state of TX. Heavy air support is dropping both water and fire retardant. Numerous roads are closed including HWY 21 and HWY 71. Fire is 0% contained

Steiner Ranch Fire: 4,000 homes threatened, 25 homes lost. Fire continues to burn in heavy brush and Cedar trees in NW Travis County near Lake Travis. Much of the Steiner Ranch area is under a mandatory evacuation order. Fire is 0% contained.

Columbus Fire: 2,000 acres burning near I-10 on the east side of Columbus. TFS dozer crews are cutting fire lines while local fire departments are offering structure protection. Fire is 20% contained.

LaGrange Fire: Heavy brush and grass fire on the north side of HWY 71 near LaGrange. Numerous homes are threatened some have been lost. No estimate on containment.

Walker County Fire: 500 acres burning near I-45 and FM 1696. 100 homes threatened. No estimate on containment.

N Hays County Fire: 25 acre fire in heavy grass. 4 homes burned, at least 50 threatened. No estimate on containment.

Spicewood Fire: 400 acres on the SW side of Lake Travis. Homes are burning, numerous homes are threatened.

Forecast:

Absolutely horrible fire weather conditions for Monday. Cold front now surging SE through C TX will reach the coast late tonight and strong NW winds will return. In Central TX winds of 20-30mph will continue now through Monday evening. Very dangerous fire weather conditions are in place and will continue with rapid spread and large long crown runs. All areas will be at critical conditions by 900am Monday and continue through 900pm Monday.

This is a very dangerous fire weather situation. Have a plan if a fire approaches your area, you may only have minutes to leave. If told to evacuate do so immediately, it will save your life!

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I've link your page to the KHOU Weather Forum as well, David. We're all trying our hardest to get good information out. Tomorrow is likely to be a very tough and long day with the frontal passage.

http://forums.khou.c...c.php?f=2&t=815

Thanks man, I'm also helping him out admining him page. I figured I'll do whatever I can from here, using my firefighting knowledge. Hope you didn't mind me linking your posts. There's some scared people out there, and there should be. People need to be ready at a moment's notice tomorrow. Damn near treat it like you would a tornado warning, only get the heck outta dodge, instead of going under cover.

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I've link your page to the KHOU Weather Forum as well, David. We're all trying our hardest to get good information out. Tomorrow is likely to be a very tough and long day with the frontal passage.

Thanks! We're working to keep updates posted, but honestly so many people are posting updates themselves it's become more of a way for folks to share information. I was just looking at the 0Z NAM and GFS for tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be one of the most destructive fire days in the history of Texas and I fully expect several fires to take on 'firestorm' type features. Dewpoints in the upper 20's with surface winds gusting above 30 knots. I live in Southern Dallas County in a fairly populated area (not a lot of large fields) and I'm even concerned what will happen here if a fire breaks out.

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Thanks man, I'm also helping him out admining him page. I figured I'll do whatever I can from here, using my firefighting knowledge. Hope you didn't mind me linking your posts. There's some scared people out there, and there should be. People need to be ready at a moment's notice tomorrow. Damn near treat it like you would a tornado warning, only get the heck outta dodge, instead of going under cover.

No problem. As you know, I'm an old retired fire fighter and understand completely what is at stake here with this situation.

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are you flippin serious??? the entire flippin central-se part of the state is on fire!!! WTF????

Pretty much. And you haven't seen anything yet. Wait until later today. I've only seen fire conditions like what's coming later today once around here. Just the conditions alone would be bad enough, couple that with how dry it is? It's going to be a historic amount of fire seen.

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are you flippin serious??? the entire flippin central-se part of the state is on fire!!! WTF????

It as bad as it can get, Diane. I've never seen a situation like this here in Texas. We are facing a California Santa Ana type event if we are unlucky. Fires have been common from just S of Dallas all the way S into our area in SE TX. Very, very worrisome, to say the least.

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Mods, if I'm wrong with this post then delete:

Just drove up from Houston to Dallas. I45 shut down in both directions near Huntsville and had to detour. Thick smoke and visible fires from the detour up 75. Firefighters everywhere along 45 up to Corsicana. One of the firefighters told us they had most of the ones near Corsicana contained. Never seen this many firefighters mobilized in my life.

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Mods, if I'm wrong with this post then delete:

Just drove up from Houston to Dallas. I45 shut down in both directions near Huntsville and had to detour. Thick smoke and visible fires from the detour up 75. Firefighters everywhere along 45 up to Corsicana. One of the firefighters told us they had most of the ones near Corsicana contained. Never seen this many firefighters mobilized in my life.

That's actually the first I heard about I-45 being closed. Thanks for that!

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