Texas Is On Fire

[marmar]

Texas Is On Fire


I'm noticing that Texas Governor Rick Perry's effort to pray for rain has not had the desired effect. The state is now on fire. This is obviously terrible for the people of Texas, and in recognition of that Rick Perry isskipping a Jim DeMint-sponsored forum in South Carolina to race home and try to show some leadership. Texas is obviously a hotbed of climate change-denial, but I wonder how long the people there will tolerate such nonsense in the face of the evidence. The oil and gas industry is extremely important to the Texas economy, but so is not having your whole state be a tinder box.

The largest of the fires is in Bastrop County, southeast of Austin, said Lexi Maxwell, a spokeswoman with the Texas Forest Service. The blaze has so far scorched some 14,000 acres and is threatening about 1,000 homes, she said. It forced parts of state highways 71 and 21 to shut and additional road closures are expected, Maxwell said.

"It was like a storm coming through. You could smell the earth burning," said Ochoa, who doesn't know yet whether his home is OK or not. "All of Bastrop is a giant smoke cloud."

Fires were also reported in Travis, Leon, Colorado, Burnet and Caldwell counties. About 190 homes were evacuated in Travis County.

A spokeswoman at the American Red Cross said it had opened four shelters and anticipates opening more.

The temperature in Austin has topped 100 degrees fahrenheit eighty times this year, which is an all-time record. Not only does that make for a miserable existence, it isn't remotely normal. I don't see how the fiction that climate change is debatable can be sustained much longer, even in the Lone Star State.

By Booman | Sourced from Booman Tribune
Posted at September 5, 2011, 9:29 am



http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/661637/texas_is_on_fire/

[hobbit709]

1. Got up this morning and you can smell smoke here in Austin.

But on a good note, it was 62° this morning and I was able to turn off the AC for the first time since the middle of May. Looks like our heat wave is over, it only got up to about 90 yesterday.

Our illustrious governor is already demanding either foreign aid from the country he wants to secede from or FEMA money from the government he thinks should be drowned in a bathtub. These positions of his change daily.

[Mugweed]

2. You mean he's not letting a "free market" come up with a fix?

Imagine that.

[SoCalDem]

8. Two people I saw interviewed said

"We don't have no insurance".. of course these people will be expecting help.. Will Perry deliver?

Texas brags about their small government and no-tax philosophy..so what now for these folks?

[angel823]

9. in Houston, too.

Yesterday and this morning, strong smell of smoke.

[roguevalley]

12. I am sorry, Texas and Texans for your pain. I hope rain comes soon.

[MrScorpio]

3. It was too hot for me in Texas way back in the mid-1980s

I can't imagine what folks down there are going through now.

[1monster]

4. Wow. Just wow. Look at this Texas Fire Danger Map. Less than a quarter of Texas

is not listed fire danger as high, very high, or extreme. This is even worse than Florida 1998 when the whole state was on fire.

[readmoreoften]

5. I'm about 15 miles from the nearest fire but I'm afraid to leave for work.

I work almost an hour away and there's a wildfire within 2 miles of my workplace too. This is beginning to make me really anxious.

[Warpy]

6. We in NM know just how you feel

We were choking on smoke from the Arizona border and our whole state was on fire in June. We'd had 0.2 inches of precipitation since January 1. We're still dry but we've had a few showers here and there to wet things down enough that it's not catching on fire from things like sun shining through the glass of a broken soda bottle.

Climate is definitely changing and right now the earth is trying to make up its mind which way to go.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Javaman]

10. A close friend of mine lost her home...

two others aren't in today because they were both evacuated. They don't know if they still have homes.

My cube-mates cousin lost her home.

My GF co-worker lost their home.

The Steiner Ranch fire is still only 20% contained.

Don't know the containment percent on the Bastrop fire. It's huge. 25K acres or 40 square miles. Let that sink in.

[Fleshdancer]

11. Second flareup happening right now in LEANDER, Williamson Co

Williamson Co residents, I recommend this FB page for up to date information:

http://www.facebook.com/preparingwilco#!/preparingwilco

This was written 20 minutes ago:

"Definitely just saw another house on fire, close to and in sight of Bagdad road, house backs up to some green space looked like. Firetrucks were rushing back into mason creek north. We immediately left the area." and "Witnesses say Mason Creek north is being evacuated a second time right now."

:(