Up In Flames
We've had no rain in like, 3 months here. Yesterday it was 85 degrees and the wind was blowing like 30-40mph. There is a burn ban out and we were under a "fire warning" because the conditions were so bad for grass fires. So I'm at work at the bank and I get a text message from my friend Tish (mentioned in my blog yesterday). They just built a new cabin style house out in the country outside of town. She messages me: "Huge grass fire at the house! Gone to get the girls out! Please pray for us!"
So I started praying for them but figured they'd be safe cuz she was getting the kids out of there. She messaged me again that she got the girls out and was going back to spray water around the house to wet everything down. This was like... 2:00pm.
I got done at the bank at 3:00pm and as I was driving home, I saw the smoke from that direction (they are like.... 10 miles to the southwest of town). It was TREMENDOUS. I was thinking, crap that's a lot of smoke. So I stopped at the house and grabbed Jimmy and said, "Let's head out that way to see what's going on and help Tish if she needs us." So we are driving out that way, and watching the smoke and thinking it's alright, the smoke seems to be further south away from their home site.
Then we turn on the highway headed out that direction and we are like.... Hmmmm, that smoke looks more like it is close to George's back yard (George is Rick's father -- lives on the land across the road from them). Then we turn off onto the gravel road that goes toward the house and we are thinking.... Hmmmm, this is NOT GOOD the smoke is RIGHT THERE..... then we turn left onto their little tree-lined winding driveway that leads up to the home and it is BURNED completely all the way to the road!!!
So we got up there and found that the house was okay -- they had stopped the fire about 20-yards from the home, but people were scurrying around everywhere putting out "hot spots". The wind was blowing like a son-of-a-B and everytime a spot would get stamped out, the wind would blow and it would flame back up. The area is thick with trees so it is hard to get a fire truck in thru there to put it out. The trucks had pretty much moved south, following the actual fire and trying to keep it from burning houses and hay fields down the way. So Jimmy grabbed a shovel and a 5-gallon bucket of water and took off. I grabbed a hoe and took off with Tish (she had a shovel) and we went off into the trees to try and cover up "hot spots" and keep the trees from burning higher up and spreading. It was hard work -- the ground is super hard from being so dry. We really couldn't do much with the wind blowing like it was. At one point, I was trying to cover up this pile of smoldering brush and it wasn't working. The wind blew up and the tree next to the pile caught flame and it just started climbing up higher and higher. Luckily Jimmy came along at that moment to help, then a water truck came in and was able to back up to the tree and spray it down.
We ran back and forth doing this until about 8:00pm. At dark, the wind died down and the spots started to stay out and not flare up anymore. As of this morning, things were quiet and calm.
My friends were lucky -- their home was saved. Praise God.
The town of Cross Plains was not so blessed. Cross Plains is about 30 miles north of Brownwood, on the other side of the lake. Yesterday afternoon, a grass fire broke out near the town. As of this morning, 50 homes have been destroyed, as well as the Methodist Church. There has been one death and rumor is that several people have been taken to the hospital with burns from trying to fight the blaze.
The people of that community could sure use some prayers.
posted by Tamfish @ 9:24 AM
Comments: 1
