TX: Range fires burn Tarrant homes (disaster declaration)

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/122705dnmetrail.ce81746.html

Gov. Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration for parts of North Texas Tuesday afternoon, after range fires driven by high winds and dry conditions burned homes in Tarrant County and threatened structures in cities across the area.


The worst fire appeared to be along the Arlington-Kennedale border in Tarrant County. Flames consumed homes near the Tierra Verde Golf Club, and firefighters were setting up defenses around at least two apartment complexes and a number of residential neighborhoods.

It took almost four hours to contain a structure fire in Colleyville on Tuesday, with units from seven nearby cities responding.

(Live video at link)

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http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8EORMR05.html

A wind-whipped grass fire spread quickly across a Fort Worth suburb Tuesday, threatening homes and burning several structures.

Thick white smoke rose above Kennedale, a bedroom community of about 6,100 people just south of Fort Worth. Television footage showed homes damaged, outbuildings in flames and residents spraying hoses at the fire. There were no immediate reports of injury.

Fort Worth Fire Department Lt. Kent Worley said firefighters had responded to at least nine brush fires since midnight, and more were expected later in the day. The department also was helping battle the blaze in Kennedale.

telling us to water our lawn. I don't know how much good that would do with the ground as dry as it is.

(at least what they were saying on the TV), could you safely soak down your roof?

Sounds silly, I know, but it's worth a try. :shrug:

today

a counterpart to the Healthy Forest program? A Heathly Prairie program? Get rid of all the grass so it won't burn?

:shrug:

if they'd developed the area! Damn nature loving hippie tree huggers...
:sarcasm:

This is nothing new. Didn't you learn the North Texas Prairie Fire Shuffle when you were in school? It's fun for all ages!

Of course, I can joke. I live in Arlington near Mansfield. I've been at work all day and I'm more than a little concerned about my 'hood.

I fought quite a few pastuer fires when I was growing up in Texas. They can get nasty.

I live close to Hurricane Harbor, but my mom's house is only a few miles away from that fire that happened at Green Oaks & Pioneer.

Across the street from the service dept where I work there was a small grass fire. Some of the sales guys drove over there, and said it was some bushes on fire and the fire dept was there already.

It's so dry out here, as long as stupid people are burning trash & leaves and throwing cigarette butts out car windows, there's bound to be more of these fires.

I hope your house was okay.

The fire at Pioneer and Green oaks was the closest to my place, but my house is fine.
I need to do something nice for the local fire dept. They busted their asses.

or something.

.

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GRASS_FIRES?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-28-15-48-49

Firefighters marked burned-out buildings with spray-painted orange X's as they searched for bodies Wednesday after wildfires killed at least four people and destroyed about 100 homes across drought-stricken Texas and Oklahoma.

The hardest-hit community during Tuesday's blazes was Cross Plains, a West Texas ranching and oil-and-gas town of 1,000 people some 150 miles from Dallas. It lost about 50 homes and a church. One person was killed and at least three were unaccounted for after the flames raced through brush dried out by the region's worst drought in 50 years

All together, the grass fires destroyed more than 100 buildings across Texas, including 78 homes, the state emergency management agency said. Two dozen more homes were reported destroyed in Oklahoma

All four deaths were in Texas. One victim was a woman found dead in her home in Cross Plains, authorities said, but no details were disclosed. Another was a woman who apparently fell and broke her hip and could not get out of her home before it was destroyed by fire in Callisburg, near the Oklahoma line, firefighters said.