Monday, September 05, 2011

Central Texas Fires

I'm a little shell shocked tonight. The images I've seen online from the Bastrop Fire are apocalyptical. Flames so high they make the cars look tiny. It is hard to grasp a fire that has burned 16 miles long and at least 4 miles wide, and leaped the Colorado River.

I've spent a lot of time over the years at Bastrop State Park. 2,000-3000 acres out of 6500 have burned. I took my Master Naturalist training at the Lost Pines Chapter. I have friends and family in the Bastrop area. One I've touched base with told me the fire was 2 miles from their home and they were packed and ready to go. I know that people I know are losing their homes tonight. While I grieve over the loses at Bastrop State Park and the potential loss of the historic CCC buildings there, that pales with the thought that early in the evening over 300 homes had burned. Homes with treasures, memorablia, family pictures, heirlooms, memories . . .

I also have friends in the Steiner Ranch area. I'm hoping their home is far enough to the east that their home will be spared. But tonight cannot be an easy night for them, not knowing what is happening to their home.

I have other friends that live in Spicewood, another area that has fires tonight.

I am grieving for what is lost, but praying that the winds are not as bad as forecast tomorrow and that God protects the firefighters as they battle through the night, that they are able to get these fires under control and . . . that God comfort and strengthen all those who have lost everything in these fires.

Tomorrow I'll try to post links to some of the more amazing footage and still photos that I've seen tonight.

3 comments:

RuthieAppleby said...

Wow! I live in New York and we don't have fires here...lots of snow. Will definitely keep you in our prayers.
Ruthie Appleby

Mary Ann Melton said...

Thanks, Ruthie! The statistics for the acres burned, the number of houses lost has gone much higher since this blog post. Fortunately, people heeded evacuation orders and loss of life has been minimal. The state park I mentioned lost all but 100 acres (the golf course) out of 6500 acres, but the majority of the historical structures were not destroyed thanks to much diligent effort by Texas Park & Wildlife Employees and generous donation of heavy equipment and water trucks from private companies.

Thanks for thinking of us. Way too many folks are now living out of hotels. This is not normal here, this is a record fire situation. May it never happen where you live!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.