Texas Has 254 Counties, And There Are Fires In 252 Of Them Today - Driest Spring Since 1917

[hatrack]

Dallas (CNN) -- Dozens of large fires burned out of control Monday in Texas in what officials described as unprecedented conditions that show no signs of abating soon.

"We're experiencing conditions never seen in Texas before," said Marq Webb, a public information officer with the Texas Forest Service, which was devoting massive resources to the effort. "Yesterday, we had 1,400 people and that number will go up today," Webb said Monday in a telephone interview from the service's incident command center in Merkel just west of Abilene.

In all, the Forest Service has been asked to help battle fires covering some 700,000 acres, he said. Thirty-one fires were being fought in East Texas; another 11 fires in West Texas, officials said.

EDIT

"We're experiencing conditions we've never seen in Texas before," he said. "We have a huge area of Texas with abundant fuels and they are tinder dry -- and I'm talking about probably half of the state."

Monday's forecast was worse than Sunday's, "and tomorrow's supposed to be worse than today," he said. Though temperatures are expected to dip Wednesday, they were predicted to ramp back up on Thursday and Friday.


EDIT

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/18/texas.forest.fires/index.html?hpt=T2

[mitchtv]

1. I hope they pick themselves up soon

by their own bootstraps , that is

[PDittie]

10. They got burned off nt

[randr]

2. I certainly hope they are not drawing any federal funds to fight the fires

That would go against everything the independent State of Texas reputes to be.
I do hope the average citizens are not harmed in any way and they exchange their teabagger leaders for real ones asap.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. and Governator Seccession now want fed help?

I am so tempted to say no, but for the cost in human suffering and generally being a progressive who hates to see people lose their homes.

[Bragi]

4. More proof that climate change doesn't exist

Or something.

[damntexdem]

5. And meanwhile, the guv and legislature are conducting a fire sale:

of Texas' educational and social-program resources.

[izquierdista]

6. Maybe they need to pray some more

So that GAWD can improve his aim with the thunderstorms.

[Ozymanithrax]

7. In Mexico, they have had fires burning for more than a month that they...

have been unable to extinguish. So it isn't just a Texas thing.

[Scuba]

8. It's God punishing them for Louie Gohmert. n/t

[happyslug]

9. Better get out the Forest fire tools, here are the big three:

1. The Pulaski:
http://www.mesfire.com/Portal.aspx?CN=B78EEEA400AF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulaski_%28tool%29

2. The McLeon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLeod_%28tool%29

3. The Combination tool:

http://www.nationalfirefighter.com/product_info.php?products_id=1169
https://www.mesfire.com/Portal.aspx?CN=2F12B5340048
http://www.americantrails.org/resources/info/tools5.html


If the Combination tool looks like a M1945/M1951 US Army entrenching tool (replaced in 1967 by a tri-fold entrenching tool, the tri-fold, while inferior for digging, fits better on a soldier web belt while he is riding in Vehicle) you are correct. The US Forest Service fell in love with the 1951 Entrenching tool in the 1950s and continue to use surplus US Army till the 1980s (When the Army finally ran out of its 1951 tools). The Forest service tended to install a 42 inch handle in place of the US Army's 18 inch handle but otherwise no change. In 1992 the Forest Service, seeing no good replacement for the M1951, started to order its own version, the same as the M1951 but with a 42 inch handle (Which some Fire
fighters cut back to 18 inches, to be more easily packed to the fire).

These three tools, used together, are the preferred tools of the US Forest Service. The oldest of these tools, the McLeod (dating to the 1890s) is very good at moving tender out of the path of the fire. The Second eldest (around 1910) the Pulaski is a combination axe and hoe, it cuts and dig deep to remove tender and roots from any advancing fire. The Combination tools (Officially 1992, but used unofficially since the 1950s) give the fire fighter the ability to dig, it contains both a pick and spade. You can also use it to scrape. There is some overlap with these tools, but each have their place.

List of other Forest fire fighting tools:
http://www.americantrails.org/resources/info/tools5.html

[PDittie]

11. I just wish

that the invisible hand of the free market would hurry up and put them out. Then again, Governor Suckseed (that's how he pronounces 'secede') appears to be taking the libertarian route: letting the wildfires burn themselves out.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. Well, if they want their water, they can come get it.

It's coming down in Seattle area. Seriously. It's almost May, and we're getting SNOW still.

At least we won't have any water use advisories this year.