Yesterday afternoon I let Chance out into the backyard and smelled smoke. It was quite windy and smoke make the sky a dirty gray brown color. I looked and didn't see a fire but I had Chance come back inside. Then, as evening progressed we could smell the smoke inside too. It made for a great sunset. This morning the paper from Bryan said there were three fires burning within a 30-40 mile radius of us. The closest was just down the road between Huntsville and Madisonville. They closed Interstate 45 and Hwy 75 for 5 hours because of the smoke. The fire was about ten miles southeast of us. The one in Grimes County burned 15,000 acres and 30 homes. There is another burning in Trinity County between Trinity and Lufkin. I hope Kountry Gal isn't in the way of that one. The one closest to us must be out or about out because the smoke isn't so bad and the smell is intermittent. It is still windy here. I bet the one along the interstate was someone tossing out a cigarette. The one in Grimes County was caused from sparks from a barbecue pit. dooley
I am glad you are okay Dooley. Some people are so careless about fire. I have witnessed people throwing cigarettes out the window, and stopped and helped to put out the fires [with family members]. Those kind of people make me angry. I just posted on the Texas drought one too.
People just don't think about it. When we lived in Arizona we were going up the interstate and passed firemen trying to put out a fire along the median of the highway. Not a quarter mile down the road a big van passes us and the driver tossed a lighted cigarette out the window and you could see sparks bouncing off of it as it rolled into the median. I got the license plate number and gave it to the State Troopers in our area. He said that they couldn't ticket them but what they do is send them a letter and put in lists of all the fires started by people tossing out cigarettes and how much it cost to put the out and a warning not to do it again. I bet the man just tossed the letter into the trash. If he is so careless to toss one out after he just passed a fire he wouldn't care about how much it costs to fight one or who it burned out. dooley
I heard that the fire south of Dallas over the weekend was started when the fierce winds we have been having blew a tree down and onto a power line. If they hadn't been inside the city limits where the fire department could respond quickly more homes would have been lost. All fireworks shows for the July 4th holiday have been called off, now we just have to keep an eye on our neighbors who think the No Fireworks inside the city limits law doesn't apply to them.
I have noticed that the firework stands have not opened this year. I guess that won't keep people from finding them somewhere. I know in our area last year a lot of people were using them. They seem to think that sparklers and ground ones are okay but I would think that sparklers would spread it around. dooley
Dooley, I'm so glad you aren't in the path of any of those terrible wildfires. As one firefighter said, tornadoes are quick, as are hurricanes, but you can sit for a week dreading a wildfire will come at you. The stress on these folks must be terrible! We are surrounded by farms with short grass or crops. There still is a bit of danger, but our "wildfires" are really grass fires and are more easily contained and put out.
Glad the fires didn't get any closer to you Dooley! When I lived in New Mexico, we had a fire within a mile of the house. We were out there trying to wet down the grass and the roof... and the young lady that lived next door was out washing her car... like not a care in the world or regard to what water we did have and how to use it.
Wow! I read there were some in Arizona, but not in Texas. I sure am glad none of you seem to be in danger, but be careful and stay safe. I hope they can get them all out pretty soon.
I'm so pleased to hear that you and Brian are OK Dooley. I just hope Kountry Gal is too. If you hear any news of her please let us know won't you?
Glad to hear you are not in danger. Is there a lot of dry brush in the area that would feed a fire? Jerry
There is large wildfire hoping across I-45 just north of Huntsville now, already burned out several homes. Jerry, everything is dry. Grass/weeds/wildflowers growing along the highways, pastures, trees, grass in home lawns and they don't have to be very tall to burn.
I remember when my kids were little, we lived in Texas for a few years, and we had a brush fire less than a 1/4 mile from our house. We were out there with the garden hose trying to water down the house and garage roofs, and the lawn out by the field. Some idiot tossed a lit cigarette out his car window and started it. Thankfully, the fire department and a lot of volunteers got it out in time. When there is a fire like that, just about everyone becomes a volunteer, ya know?
When we came home from town the other day, Friday I think it was, there was a fire burning along the road. The fire department hadn't arrived yet but cars and trucks had stopped and people were out beating on it with whatever they had available. A tow truck driver had a big shovel beating on it. The blacken area didn't look much bigger when we went past again so they must have beat it to death. People really pitch in and help with such stuff here.Fires aren't picky about where and what they burn. I knew there was a fire somewhere tonight. We could smell the smoke again. Thanks, Toni! dooley
Oh, dear! I don't like these news at all. I'm so glad that you're out of harm's way but my heart goes out to all the people who've lost their homes.
