Due to Tropical Storm Lee we have been having high winds- 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. There is a wildfire burning to the north of us about 17 miles (Centerville). It has burned about 500 acres. I'm not sure which way the wind is blowing. The fire is northwest of us. We can smell the smoke and before dark we could see the gray skies in that direction. There are also fires (three) in the Huntsville area which is southeast of us. There have been evacuations from there, too. It's burning about 20 miles from us. If we have a fire near Madisonville I think we'll be out of luck since all of our firemen are out helping others. It's been so dry that everything is brown and brittle. We have the radio on and the neighbors said they would let us know what they see on the tv. I found some information on the internet, too. KBTX out of Bryan had some information on the Centerville fire. There are fires in Brazos County also but they are 50-60 miles from us. The winds will still be with us tomorrow but hopefully some rain will arrive to help with the fires. dooley
Wow dooley. I'll be praying that the winds calm down and that you get the much need rain soon. Praying that you stay safe.
Three seats of fire and all within 20 miles of you!! I'm keeping absolutely everything crossed that the rain comes down and heavily enough to extinguish them all. Either that or that everything becomes too wet for the fires to spread and do any further damage. Do keep us updated about your situation as fires can move so quickly especially with a wind behind them.
We have about a dozen around us too, the one not too far from here appears to be completely under control after a week of burning acres and homes. There is a massive fire in a suburb of Austin that has burned 14,000 acres and destroyed 300 homes. If TS Lee had made landfall a little further either direction most of the state could have had rain from the cold front that is moving through but that's not going to happen.
I was just reading about the fires on the news and immediately wanted to know how our Texas stewbies are doing. I hope they can get the fires under control quickly and with no loss of life in Texas. Sending prayers and good thoughts your way, Texas friends. It sure does sound serious. Come, rain, come!
This morning at 7 am the fire had burned 1500 acres and was 30 percent contained. It's burning toward the south right now. A little town called Flynn is in it's path. We go through Flynn sometimes when we go to Jewett or Buffalo. Firefighters from several surrounding counties are fighting it now as well as the forest service. The wind doesn't seem too bad this morning and the sky is clear. I don't think we will get rain. dooley
No rain in sight, or predicted. There are three fires in our greater area. The one near Marquez has caused evacuations, as has the one near Teague. The one on Ft. Hood is still burning, and there were several small ones near Temple that were quickly put out. These are grass fires--burning hay fields and pasture. Fortunately, there are few trees to go up in flames and spread embers, so if the wind dies down, the fires will be more easily contained. We are getting our temporary fence ready in case any evacuated horses or cattle come our way. We are on the "can accept" list for our county.
That's very good that you can take in the evacuated livestock. The fires around P.K. lake lately had several people with trailers loading livestock up, moving them to a safe place then when that place became threatened they would have to load them up and move them again. One lady said she had spent 3-4 days just moving horses and cattle from one safe place to another one further away as the fires spread.
The fire is burning south but is still west of I-45. We can see the smoke coming up now. At 11:30 they were evacuating Flynn. Normangee is the next town south of Flynn and Normangee is 13 miles west of us. I'm thinking the fire is close to there. They say it's burned 3 to 4 thousand acres and is no where near contained. I hope if it has to come this way that it stays on the other side of the highway. Of course most of Madisonville is the other side of the highway so that's not good either. No rain in sight. dooley
Yikes! you guys are really facing such uncertainty with those fires being so close to some of you. I will be praying even harder for rain. I didn't hear about the fire in apart of Austin on the news at all. My step-daughter lives there. We will definitely have to give her a call. marlingardener that is super that you can take in livestock that needs a safe place to stay. My heart was very sad when the news reported that horses are being abandoned in Texas because of the drought. :'( sad very sad. I would love to bring a bunch of them back up here to Wis. and find them good homes.
Good Grief, Dooley! You had better pack up the truck now with essentials, like your computer and items dear to your heart and of course some food and water. You know, so that you can just jump into it and drive away if you are to be evacuated. I so hope that the fire does not reach you. Please do stay in touch if you can.
We have packed an essentials bag and medications and important papers and water and dog food. Some are in the truck and some piled on the table. We're just taking stuff for emergencies and trusting that a higher being will see to the rest of our stuff. The fire is not getting closer according to Glenda's brother. His daughter is the 911 dispatcher here. I talked to him about an hour ago. With the wind though we can see smoke on all sides of us. We'll stick here if we can because there are no shelters set up anywhere yet. I'll keep in touch. Wannabe can post if I can't. Dooley
