As many of you know, my family owns some west Texas property near the town of Robert Lee, Texas. Last week, a wildfire started on 66 acres northwest of the property as a result of a lightning strike during a whiff of a thunderstorm. The Texas Forest Service and local firefighters thought they had the fire contained. Unfortunately, they didn’t.
Thursday night, April 14, strong northwest winds whipped the wildfire and, given the extreme drought conditions the state has endured for many, many months, it bolted southeastward toward us and our neighbors.
This is butte and mesa territory which makes fighting a wildfire like this one near impossible and very dangerous.
Firefighters from as far as California showed up to to help local firefighters fight the burgeoning blaze through Thursday night and Friday morning when the wind suddenly dropped to a lazy breeze.
However, the wildfire overtook the family property and the properties of surrounding neighbors burning everything in its path and spreading to tens of thousands of acres.
Firefighters barely had time to catch their breath when winds shifted to the south and southwest turning the wildfire (now dubbed The Wildcat Fire by the Texas Forest Service) back on itself. Winds gusted to 40 miles-per-hour and The Wildcat Fire came back to burn all that that it hadn’t burned before.
The family property got it twice, as did our neighbors.
Last report was that The Wildcat Fire was moving northeasterly and had consumed upwards of 130,000 acres.
Here are a couple of links to some amateur photos and video of The Wildcat Fire damage to my family property.
Photos –> HERE
Short video –> HERE
The Firefighters hardly had time to ensnare their inhalation when winds transferred to the south and southwest spinning the wildfire (now called The Wildcat Fire by the Texas Forest Service) back on itself. Winds gusted to 40 miles-per-hour and The Wildcat Fire came back to consume with blast all that that it hadn’t burned before.
Posted by: Land in Texas | September 16, 2011 at 11:50 PM