1500 Firefighters from 34 states. 1.5 million acres burned and over 250 homes. Untold numbers of barns, out buildings, vehicles, farm / ranch equipment, etc. A number of small towns evacuated.

A lot of this land is cattle country. Grazing land has been lost. Fencing is lost. A report I heard the other day is it cost $ 12,000 / mile to replace fencing. When you consider all of the cross fencing...that is a lot of fence. There is not enough trucks and trailers available to haul off all of the livestock. Fences are being cut to allow the livestock to fend for themselves. A cattle rancher I know has 10,000 head...thankfully he is not yet affected. But, other than some prized bulls and horses, he would have to turn most of his livestock out.

The other part of the story is, the helicopters have been very challenged due to the extremely high winds we have had over the past 6 weeks. Some days they cannot fly. In addition the drought in West Texas has been so bad that water is getting more and more difficult to find.


1500 Firefighters from 34 states. 1.5 million acres burned and over 250 homes. Untold numbers of barns, out buildings, vehicles, farm / ranch equipment, etc. A number of small towns evacuated.

A lot of this land is cattle country. Grazing land has been lost. Fencing is lost. A report I heard the other day is it cost $ 12,000 / mile to replace fencing. When you consider all of the cross fencing...that is a lot of fence. There is not enough trucks and trailers available to haul off all of the livestock. Fences are being cut to allow the livestock to fend for themselves. A cattle rancher I know has 10,000 head...thankfully he is not yet affected. But, other than some prized bulls and horses, he would have to turn most of his livestock out.

West Texas ranchers lose cattle, livelihood to fires | Reuters


The other part of the story is, the helicopters have been very challenged due to the extremely high winds we have had over the past 6 weeks. Some days they cannot fly. In addition the drought in West Texas has been so bad that water is getting more and more difficult to find.

At one point one of the fires was moving at 6 miles per hour. The visibility was so bad that a volunteer firefighter lost his life. He was hit by a vehicle as he was exiting the one he was in. The only human life directly due to the fire.

Two Air force Academy Lieutenants died when their light aircraft crashed while sight seeing the fire. One of my managers slightly knew one of pilots. Just saw him again two weekends ago.

Channel 6 News » Two die in small plane crash while sightseeing Texas wildfire

 

Thanks for that information kw5413. I lived in that area when I went to Sul Ross in Alpine
during the '70s.
Best Regard,
Russ
hope your troubles change to good luck for a change.

 

Thanks. I got nothin' compared to some of those folks out there that are loosing eveything.

 

My hog hunting spot is up in smoke in the Cooper Mountain Ranch fire.

They lost most of the cattle, exotics, and at least one house. Everybody on the ranch got out ok, though.

 

It is both amazing and devastating.

 

You are right about all of this.It is a shame that many have lost so much.We had about 16k acres burn 2 miles south of my place in March.Real scary deal when the wind is so high you cannot stop it.We had aircraft support as well.The local VFDA and air support done a hell of a job.I see the damage of the fires that were in the Matador area.Bad deal.