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Update: One death attributed to the wildfires, acreage now 88,000. Read here.
Wildfires are burning throughout rain starved Texas. The largest is the 71,000 acre Swenson Fire burning in West Texas, north of Aspermont between Lubbock and Abilene.
Reuters reports up to 5 unoccupied structures have burned and nearly 200 head of cattle have been claimed by flames.
Lubbock Online adds winds will gust to 40 mph today as a cold front pushes into the region. Monday will see cooler temperatures and diminishing winds.
From the Texas Forest Service;
–COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Wildfire weather conditions on Sunday could shape up to be among the worst in Texas history.With the weather in control, local emergency responders and state agencies ready for extremely active wildfire activity in West, Central and North Texas, ranging from Wichita Falls to San Angelo to Big Bend, to include all of the Panhandle. Extreme wildfire weather is also forecast for the area west of I-35.Key weather factors include pervasive drought conditions, sustained winds of 30 – 35 mph – gusting up to 50 mph, high temperatures ...
Below is some impressive video of fire near Midland. This scene is being played out throughout the state.
Twitter Search Texas Wildfires.
Four Months With No Rain in Oklahoma = Range Fires
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Oklahoma is parched, bone dry and has been since last Thanksgiving making this the driest winter since 1921 according to the AP.
News Channel 4 of Oklahoma City reports Red Flag Warnings are in effect for the following Oklahoma counties today; Comanche; Jefferson; Stephens; Cotton; Harmon; Jackson; Tillman; Craig; Creek; Delaware; Mayes; Nowata; Okfuskee; Okmulgee; Osage; Ottawa; Pawnee; Rogers; Tulsa; Wagoner; Washington; Adair; Cherokee; Haskell; Latimer; Le Flore; McIntosh; Muskogee; Pittsburg; Sequoyah
So far acreage is low, less than 1,000 acres burned but high winds are what concern firefighters. Below is a clip of the Incident Commander of the Keystone Fire near Mannford.
Oklahoma Wildfires Twitter Search Feed
Firefighter Blog is nearly eight years old and in that eight years I’ve always had time to post news or a rant or two when there were no fires to write about. Life has dominated nearly every “free” moment for the past 6 months and blogging has been forced to the back burner. I’ll share the main reason why.
My wife and I have two boys, our oldest is 20 years old today, our youngest is 18 and will graduate this June. This school year has mostly been dominated by managing the college application process for our senior. Don’t laugh.
The college application process is all encompassing. Every institution has a different set of requirements, none of them are connect the dots. Applications went out to about 30 schools. Most of the Ivy League schools, most of the schools in the University of California system, Notre Dame, Stanford and quite a few others.
Our oldest had good enough grades to get into the University of California system after graduation so the process of pushing his application was a breeze. The youngest nearly maxed the SAT’s and scored a whopping 35 on the ACT’s. National Merit Scholarship Finalist status vaulted him into top school consideration.
Notre Dame accepted him and flew him out for a four day recruiting visit, the University of Arizona along with Univ. of Alabama, Tulsa, Univ of Idaho, Texas Tech and Univ of New Mexico all threw exhorbitant offers his way.
All of this is frankly too much for a high school senior to deal with, absolutely. As such we stepped in to shuffle the paperwork and manage the correspondences.
My wife has spent numerous full days getting out time sensitive emails and overnight letters that included teacher recommendations, test scores, updated transcripts, essays, tax returns etc. My job has been helping boy genius battle senioritis, rolling him out of bed for zero period P.E. and transporting him to his numerous events. Why doesn’t he drive? The world is not ready for that. Smart does not always mean able!
The process is winding down, the Ivy League schoos rejected him, Stanford too but Stanford is always a crap shoot. UCLA and Cal Berkeley accepted him as well as Notre Dame and University of Arizona, the later two with full ride offers. Pride does not begin to define how we feel but it’s not over yet. Campus visits to Cal and Arizona come in the next two weeks then it’s decision time. May 1 it all ends as schools must be notified by that date.
Before you ask the obvious, why even deliberate about Notre Dame? They do not offer his major! I know, change your major but there are other factors. N.D. only allows 3 carry overs from advanced placement classes achieved in high school, not even a full semester worth. He has a full year of A.P. worth of credits which means at any other institution he would technically begin as a sophomore.
The front runner looks like Berkeley.
Once this school year ends I plan to be back at blogging. I have some great new ideas for blogging major wildfires.
