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US: 2 Killed in Massive Texas Wildfire


MSNBC/The Associated Press
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:21 UTC
Bastrop - More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in at least 57 wildfires across rain-starved Texas, most of them in one devastating blaze near Austin that is being blamed for two deaths, officials said Tuesday.

Bastrop County Sheriff Terry Pickering said Tuesday he had no details about the deaths. On Sunday, a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter were killed Sunday in an East Texas blaze.

Image
© Jay Janner / Austin American-Stateman
Massive plumes of smoke block the sky on Highway 71 east of Bastrop, Texas, on Monday Sept. 5, 2011.
Gov. Rick Perry, who cut short a presidential campaign trip to South Carolina on Monday to return to help oversee firefighting efforts in Texas, told NBC's Today that the fires were "a long way" from being under control and described the effect on people who had lost their homes as "devastating."

Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Victoria Koenig said it is too early to say how much progress was made fighting the wildfire in Bastrop County overnight, but that there were no winds early Tuesday. The fire enveloped at least 25,000 acres Monday.

"It's encouraging we don't have winds right now, not like yesterday," Koenig said early Tuesday morning.
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Phoenix

US: Wind-driven fires kill woman, child in East Texas


The Associated Press
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© LM Otero / AP
A house burns in an area near Fort Worth, one of over several dozen sites where fires are burning in Texas.
A longtime Texas sheriff says it was the fastest-moving fire he has ever seen. Six homes were toppled within minutes, including one trailer where a woman and her 18-month-old daughter were killed because they couldn't escape in time.

Authorities said the fires, including the one that killed the two people Sunday near the East Texas community of Gladewater, were propelled partly by the high winds caused by Tropical Storm Lee. Neighborhoods across eastern and central parts of the state were reporting widespread damage covering thousands of acres.

"The houses that were in its path on this particular roadway were taken out," Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano said. "There were many other houses that the fire got right up to the porch."

The 20-year-old woman and her child were found dead near the bathroom of their trailer home just outside Gladewater, about 120 miles east of Dallas and 60 miles west of Shreveport, La. A male occupant of the home sustained minor burns but was able to escape, and he frantically searched for the others, Cerliano said.
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Phoenix

US: Strong winds whip up wildfires in central Texas


CNN
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:56 UTC
The largest of the fires whipping through central Texas is in Bastrop County, shown here on Sunday
© CNN
The largest of the fires whipping through central Texas is in Bastrop County, shown here on Sunday
Strong winds whipped up several wildfires in central Texas Sunday, threatening homes and forcing some residents to evacuate.

The largest of the fires is in Bastrop County, southeast of Austin, said Lexi Maxwell, a spokeswoman with the Texas Forest Service. The blaze has so far scorched some 14,000 acres and is threatening about 1,000 homes, she said.

It forced parts of state highways 71 and 21 to shut and additional road closures are expected, Maxwell said.

Julian Ochoa, 23, was evacuated from a Bastrop subdivision Sunday afternoon. He said he grabbed his dog, a toothbrush, his birth certificate and a few pictures.
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Bizarro Earth

Disasters in US: An Extreme and Exhausting Year

Seth Borenstein
The Associated Press
Sat, 03 Sep 2011 06:43 UTC
weather
© unknown
Nature is pummeling the United States this year with extremes.

Unprecedented triple-digit heat and devastating drought. Deadly tornadoes leveling towns. Massive rivers overflowing. A billion-dollar blizzard. And now, unusual hurricane-caused flooding in Vermont.

If what's falling from the sky isn't enough, the ground shook in places that normally seem stable: Colorado and the entire East Coast. On Friday, a strong quake triggered brief tsunami warnings in Alaska. Arizona and New Mexico have broken records for wildfires.

Total weather losses top $35 billion, and that's not counting Hurricane Irene, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. There have been more than 700 U.S. disaster and weather deaths, most from the tornado outbreaks this spring.

Last year, the world seemed to go wild with natural disasters in the deadliest year in a generation. But 2010 was bad globally, and the United States mostly was spared.

This year, while there have been devastating events elsewhere, such as the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Australia's flooding and a drought in Africa, it's our turn to get smacked. Repeatedly.

Comment: Notice the Global Warming - you have to get used to it - propaganda: "The idea is that these events keep happening, and with global warming they should occur more often, so society has to learn to adapt, said former astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, NOAA's deputy chief."

What they don't mention is that global warming inevitably leads to global cooling, as in the Ice Age Cometh! An Ice Age means the deaths of millions if not billions of human beings because there simply will be no food with the disruption of growing cycles and destruction of agricultural land. Even without an Ice Age, the Earth has long since passed its carrying capacity. See Lierre Keith's The Vegetarian Myth for details.

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Attention

US: Wildfires Destroy Dozens of Homes in Texas and Oklahoma


The Associated Press
Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:17 UTC
Image
© AP Photo
Fleeing: Cattle move to avoid the flames of a large grass fire Oklahoma City
Wildfires sweeping through parts of Texas and Oklahoma have destroyed dozens of homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate, and although officials don't yet know what ignited the blazes, a summer heat wave and drought have left both states with the perfect fuel: parched ground and dry vegetation.

"We're in severe drought conditions, so just the tiniest little spark can start a wildfire," Texas Forest Service spokeswoman April Saginor said.

The Texas Forest Service warned that the weather could also hamper efforts to contain the fast-moving blaze in North Texas that destroyed at least 20 homes in a lakeside community Tuesday. The fire also was threatening about 125 other homes in the Possum Kingdom Lake area, about 75 miles west of Fort Worth.

"It sounds like we're still going to have winds today," said John Nichols, a spokesman for the service, said before dawn Wednesday. "The one positive thing you can say is that we've got the firefighting forces in places."
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Phoenix

US, California: Wildfire near Yosemite grows


The Modesto Bee
Sat, 27 Aug 2011 14:59 UTC
Yosemite Wildfire
© ERIC PAUL ZAMORA/THE FRESNO BEE
A helicopter finishes drawing water from the Merced River near the confluence of its south fork before dropping the water on an adjacent hillside as efforts continued to fight the Motor fire on Friday.
A rapidly moving wildfire grew on Saturday to about 3,600 acres west of one of the main entrances to Yosemite National Park, prompting voluntary evacuations of the Cedar Lodge hotel, campgrounds and a handful of homes in the Merced River canyon.

Highway 140 - a main entrance into Yosemite - remained closed west of the Foresta Bridge and east of Mariposa because of the fire. Fire officials said they do not know when it will be reopened. Highways 41 and 120 leading into the park were still open.

All park visitor services were unaffected by the fire, officials said.

The blaze, dubbed the Motor fire, was moving rapidly in Dry Gulch Canyon into the upper reaches of Moss Canyon, the U.S. Forest Service said. With containment at 15 percent, fire officials say it will take days to extinguish the blaze.

A motor home that caught fire on Highway 140 on Thursday afternoon sparked the blaze that raced up both sides of the canyon.
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Phoenix

US: Wildfire In Cajon Pass, California Scorches More Than 300 Acres


CBS Los Angeles
Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:11 UTC
Cajon Pass Brush Fire
© CBS Los Angeles
A wildfire has scorched more than 300 acres and a mobile home in the Cajon Pass Monday afternoon.

The wildfire began on Interstate-15 in the Cajon Pass between Kenwood and Cleghorn at approximately 1:00 p.m., according to San Bernardino National Forest spokesman John Miller. Officials say two structures have also burned.

Crews have contained about 40 percent of the brush fire.

Caltrans says only three of five northbound lanes of I-15 are open and there is a heavy backup. The southbound side is fully open but is also experiencing spectator delays.

Authorities said no one has been injured. Two residents at the Matthews Ranch were asked to evacuate but refused.

      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

US: Lightning sparks 3 wildfires in Bitterroot National Forest, Montana

Alyse Backus
Missoulian
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:37 UTC
bitteroot national forest fire
© John McColgan

Lightning sparked three wildfires in the Bitteroot National Forest after Thursday night's storm.

A fire burning in the Sapphire Mountains is about 10 miles northeast of Corvallis. Two engines and 26 firefighters are on the scene. A U.S. Forest Service helincopter dumped water on the six-acre blaze Friday morning.

Another fire is burning near Sula Peak and Forest Road 5728. Six firefighters are working to contain the fire, which has burned less than an acre.
      Read More...
Phoenix

Firefighters continue to battle wildfires in Russia's Far East


RIA Novosti
Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:13 UTC
Image
© Photo Federal Forest Resources Agency
Firefighters battle 23 wildfires in Russian Far East
Firefighters have extinguished eight wildfires in the Russian Far East in the past twenty-four hours, but are still battling numerous forest fires in the area, an emergencies ministry spokesman said on Friday.

Image
© Photo Federal Forest Resources Agency
"Forty one forest fires covering an area of 1,334 hectares were registered in the Far East over the past 24 hours," the spokesman said.
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Extinguisher

Canada: Forest Fires Rage, Up to 7000 Likely to be Evacuated


netnewsledger
Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:05 UTC
Image
© (Mitch Miller/Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources/The Canadian Press
The fire situation across Northwestern Ontario remains severe. There were twenty new fires reported since yesterday. Across the province the current scope of the area covered by fires is 300,000 hectares. This is a major increase in the scope of fires and sets a new record. Evacuations of communities in the North continue. It is expected that up to 7000 people will be evacuated out of their home communities. There will be people sent, mostly through Thunder Bay to London, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Wawa, Greenstone and other communities with hundreds also expected to stay in Thunder Bay.

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo and AFN Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse support the calls for immediate mobilization of resources by all levels of government for the safe evacuation of First Nation communities impacted by forest fires in northwestern Ontario, adding that capacity needs at the community level must be addressed to deal with immediate and long-term emergency response needs.

"The safety and security of First Nation citizens and communities is of primary concern and our thoughts and prayers are with the many people affected by the devastating fires in northwestern Ontario, particularly in Nishnawbe Aski territory," said AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo speaking today from Vancouver, where he's meeting with provincial and territorial leaders at a meeting of the Council of the Federation.
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