I have the pleasure of working in this area a lot, and many of these folks I know. Lots of this ground I have walked or rode over. But sharing the official release with y'all of the large fire.
"WILDFIRE UPDATE: Hemphill County Sheriff Nathan Lewis reports that there are still fires burning on the back side of houses on US 83 north of town, but that the fire now is burning back into itself and is considered substantially under control. No houses have been lost in that area.
Most of the threat now is concentrated on CR 20 in the IV Ranch area. Firefighters are battling those fires, with assistance from the Texas Forest Service that is running its big dozers to help contain the fire.
Current estimates are that 100,000 acres have been burned in the Ochiltree/Lipscomb County fire, but Lewis said he expects that number to rise before this is over. He also reported that he was in the air with helicopter pilot Jason Abraham yesterday afternoon, following the head fire which was traveling at a speed of 70 mph.
Lewis did say that there is no threat at present to either Glazier or Canadian, but warned that residents of this area will continue to smell and see smoke from the fires that are burning.
More information will be reported here as it is available."
As reported by the Canadian Record, March 6, 2017 online edition.
After the front moved through last night I was smelling smoke in Norman from the fire up in Harper and Woodward County 150 miles away. As it burned up into Kansas I think they had a guestimate of around 60K acres that went up in smoke. I wish it would rain...
Bet you didn't know there is cotton in Kansas. This fire was making big time news last night. It may still be going miles away.
http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Large-fire-burning-in-Pratt-County-415488773.html
So weird to hear about wildfires when we are still getting snow in California.
Our fire season doesn't start until June/July.
Is Mother Nature trying to banish y'all from the planet? Floods, droughts, tornadoes, wildfires and snow!
I'll take the tropical stoms, snakes, alligators, shark's and mosquitoes anytime. 😉
Holy Cow, post: 417333, member: 50 wrote: Bet you didn't know there is cotton in Kansas. This fire was making big time news last night. It may still be going miles away.
http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Large-fire-burning-in-Pratt-County-415488773.html
I've never seen a cotton field in Kansas. I thought cotton and peanuts took a good long frost free season (like 5 or 6 months) that kept its latitudes south of 37 degrees. Learn somethin' new everday!
Saying now the fire has destroyed over 295,000 acres of prairie. # confirmed dead, and the loss of cattle is going to be huge.
Monte, post: 417375, member: 11913 wrote: Saying now the fire has destroyed over 295,000 acres of prairie. # confirmed dead, and the loss of cattle is going to be huge.
That is a huge fire. Valley burned 76k acres and it went on for many miles.
We went to the Erskine in Kern County last summer, 46k acres, it went several miles in the first 24 hours.
The Southern California fire season is year round although this has been a record wet year so it has been slower. More fuel than usual will grow this spring.
Sounds like 3 ranch hands were killed trying to save cattle. Two in their 20's. Very sad.
May be a different fire...100,000 acres.
This link will give you a map of the locations, you can click on each and get more detail. The largest is at 315k acres.
http://ticc.tamu.edu/Response/FireActivity/
[USER=20]@paden cash[/USER]
www.cottongrower.com/cotton-production/cotton-explosion-looming-for-kansas/
