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| Hemphill County, March 6, 2017 |
It started around noon with an emergency alert of a small grassfire in northeast Potter county and southwest Carson. By 4 pm, 8 city and volunteer fire departments plus the emergency response team of Pantex were battling the blaze that would eventually consume several tens of thousands of acres. And it was the smallest of the three fires that burned the Panhandle and three other states.
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Looking west from Panhandle High School
March 6, 2017
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A second grassfire broke out between Pampa and Lefors. That one burned about 135,000 acres and took the lives of three young people who were trying to save their horses and cattle from the racing flames. Couple Cody Crockett and Sydney Wallace and rancher Sloan Everett were overcome by the flames around 10 pm; Sydney died of smoke inhalation on scene and the men died of burns en route to the hospital.
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| Sloan Everett |
A third grassfire, and the largest by far, consumed almost 300,000 acres in three states. Starting around Miami Texas and rushing north and east into the Oklahoma Panhandle and southeast Kansas, it claimed the life of young father-to-be Cade Koch who was rushing home to help evacuate his pregnant wife. He didn't outrun the fire.
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| Cade and Sierra Koch |
Four people under the age of thirty, gone in an instant. But wait, there's more. The loss of wildlife and domestic cattle is mindboggling. This is calving season in the Panhandle; the cows who had already calved were lost along with their babies. And the cows who were still pregnant? Two lives lost. Ranchers are staggering under the losses, of both cattle and grassland. All of the land that would feed the remaining cattle was burned.
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| This scene is repeated over and over in the counties burned. |
But this is when country folk shine brightest. Hay and fencing donations have been steadily pouring into the affected areas, starting almost immediately. I think the first deliveries arrived within 48 hours and haven't stopped.
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| Hay donations, Canadian TX |
The wildfire season is just beginning, and most of us are on high alert. If you're traveling through our part of the country, please be careful with cigarettes and other fire starters. It only takes a spark to snuff out so much life.
Those of us who live in places like I do here in Michigan, with our vast forests and water, seldom see the kinds of wildfires like you do out west. It saddens me to think of the loss of life, especially, of course, but also of the loss of animals for those farmers whose livelyhood depends upon them. Why am I not surprised in the least that the other farmers and ranchers have pitched in to help feed the surviving herds? The people of America is the only reason that I have faith in the country. We will survive in spite of the government, because of the people. Prayers for the families of those lost will be said tonight, and thanks for the courage of those who not only fight the fires but those who keep on going after these disasters.
ReplyDeleteI'm a smoker, and if I ever see someone thumping their butt to the ground or throwing it out the car window, I jump their shit no matter where I am. I've caused more than a couple of scenes over that.
ReplyDeleteI am originally from Ashland, Clark County, Kansas - in the middle of area that was hardest hit. I know most of the people who were hurt.
ReplyDeleteBeth Ann DeMont has done a wonderful job keeping the world updated on the tragedy through her Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/beth.demont). (I went to school with her father).
The scope of the disaster is staggering. The response from others, the outpouring of support, is breathtaking - in both its scope and depth. So many are helping so much in so many ways.
I recommend you check out Beth Ann's postings. Click her links and read the referenced articles. Then compare and contrast the "hicks" in "flyover country" with the libtard elites on both coasts and in the inner cities.
God bless the people hurt in this disaster. May He guide and provide for them as they recover and rebuild.
Kansas is over 700,000 acres burned.
ReplyDeleteVery seldom is it cigarettes....more often than not it is electrical transmission lines sparking in the high winds.
.45-70
I am reading this with tears in my eyes. Hold your loved ones close for you never know when you might lose them.
ReplyDeleteEveryone here was connected,one way or another, to those who died and those who lost so much...this is a family tragedy....and it is family(all over Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and beyond) who are responding....
ReplyDeletevaquero viejo
To all affected, know you are in our prayers. May God's love and deep compassion comfort you in this time of sorrow.
ReplyDeleteThe family of Katherine I. Ryan