Not sure if yall have seent this. Pretty wind. Hopefully those in the town are OK. That's a bad situation.
Fires in the Panhandle
- Thread starter Brute 23
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greybeard
Well-known member
We are several hundred miles away from land of the big dinosaur but that kind of size increase is usually a wind driven event.
I don't know about up there, but woke up this morning to a significantly increased wind out of the NNE and is forecast to be increasing to steady 18-20mph in a few hours.
Twisted
Well-known member
They are saying 300,000 acres now.
greybeard
Well-known member
I saw the phrase "That's the equivalent of 2 football fields per second"
used on the news a bit ago.
used on the news a bit ago.
greybeard
Well-known member
kenny thomas
Well-known member
Seems hard to imagine one growing so fast but i have been there, seen it. Just north of there in OK near where Allenw is there was one a few years ago that was wind driven. It burned 270,000 acres in a short time. Very narrow but probably 50 miles long. Almost nothing saved until the wind stopped.
midTN_Brangusman
Well-known member
Praying for all the folks and especially the ranchers in the area. I wonder how many head of cattle have been killed by the fire.
Hpacres440p
Well-known member
Nothing to stop a wind driven fire up there-tall dry winter grass and barb wire fences. It doesn't even have to run uphill much
farmerjan
Well-known member
Radio said it was up to over 750,000 acres... I cannot even imagine... Anyone on here near that area or know of anyone????
CowboyRam
Well-known member
Dad talks about a grass fire somewhere around the Cheyenne area years, and the cows never had a chance to get out of the way. It burned the tits, ears, and hair off the cows. I guess it was big mess. They had to go shot all the ones that survived the fire. I hope those ranchers can get their stock out of the way. I can't hardly imagine the amount of stress those ranchers are under right now, but it has to be enormous.
greybeard
Well-known member
Sure ya can. Divide by 640. =1,172 square miles..
That was a wild ride.
If the fire last night had kept traveling east at the rate it was last night, about five mile per hour, it would have been here early this morning. With the wind change last night it changed directions and they got a bit of a handle on it I believe.
My grandson west of Cheyenne around Reydon finally answered me back and said they had a fire 15 miles north and another 20 miles west but it was looking good for them.
OP
OP
That's a scary situation. We have always burned brush piles and junk and all that like most rural people. It never phased me. The more I do controlled burns the more respect I have for a situation like this. I have had a couple close calls and it sticks with you. You have to accept that it is just flat out, out of your control some times and make decisions based on that.
greybeard
Well-known member
i left to go to physical therapy at 1pm. when I got back an hour 1/2 later, it stood at 850,000 acres. the wind here in central Tx has decreased significantly tho, so maybe it has up North too and the fireteams can make some progress on it.
Hpacres440p
Well-known member
When was the last huge fire up there-2006 or so? I remember hearing about vets and law enforcement going out shooting more livestock than they saved, because they were so badly burned. Heartbreaking. Good reason to train cattle to follow a feed truck. Good video of a large herd chasing the feed truck/siren and getting out of the way of a fire near Stinnet.
OP
OP
The Peeler ranch had a good video a couple years ago of truck running ahead of cattle cutting fences with choppers and guys horseback driving cattle in front a fire. They didn't have this wind but it was pretty interesting. It's also pretty risky.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
It's not surprising that it's covered that much ground if you have ever been there.
You can watch your dog run off for three days and the wind is always blowing.
You can watch your dog run off for three days and the wind is always blowing.
OP
OP
These guys that fight these fires are pretty amazing. I watched one burning on the King Ranch last year heading south with a north wind. It burned for several days but they got way ahead of it off 285 outside of Fal and had dozers running 24/7 prepping to hit it with another fire. When the wind shifted out of the south the lit of the line and sent another fire at it. It burned for a couple days and was out in an hour or two when they got the right window. Pretty amazing.
It's amazing how fast and big the fires in West Texas get. Just driving through there you'd think a fire would never get out of control like they do. Can't imagine losing a ranch that you spent a lifetime growing in a matter of hours or minutes. It would be very hard not to risk it all to save the livestock. My wife has been helping feed this year for the first time and drove up on a momma that had just stomped her newborn to death trying to fend off buzzards. It upset her so much that I can't imagine just leaving a whole herd to their self during a fire.
The men and women that go fight thses fires do an amzing job trying to contain the impossible.
The men and women that go fight thses fires do an amzing job trying to contain the impossible.
