we are just getting our summer here , finally drying out ..and geting warm ..hope the rain's come soon for you ..nothing on our news about your plight..

 

A more visual idea of the fire burning down in Bastrop near Ferguson.
The first pic has the city of Austin's skyline with the fires buring 30 miles off in the background. The second pic is one of our major highways that runs from Austin down to Houston - Just past Bastrop.. .

Ben in Austin

 

so where are the water bombers ?? helicopter water drops??? you need better people running things..just can't get my head around the size of this my prayers are with you

 

5-10 mph winds are suppose to change direction tonight/tomorrow... blowing the smoke in the direction of the town of Bastrop and towards Austin (30 miles away) . Bastrop fire still not contained.

 

this thing is 20 MILES long and almost 10 miles WIDE..

they are working every air vehicle they can.. but they don't carry that much water on each pass.. the winds have been blowing embers farther than they can protect..

we normally get 30 inches of rain a year.. so far we are at 8 total..
the ground is SO dry, that water has been baked out almost 2 feet deep,
and in my lot, there are 2 inch wide cracks in the soil from the lack of water.

so, a few hundred gallons will be sucked up and make no real difference..

Sam

 

Dang, I feel for you guys down there. We only have to endure an small earthquake now and then, occasional flooding, and snowstorms. I'll take those any day over a biga$$ fire!

 

Nothing but heartfelt sympathy for you folks. We in San Diego County know exactly what dealing with a big fire is like.

Good Luck

 

Hey tight guys and stay safe. Here in Florida we get the occasionaly large fire too, but nothing near like that where I live. I hope ya'll make it through this. Just make sure ya'll do roll call of people and trucks on the way out before ya'll leave( hope it doesn't come to that).

From Finally cooling down in Flroida

 

Ben those pics really let those of us that are in different parts of the country know how bad the situation is. Our thoughts and prayers are with you guys.

Rob

 

It's been a tough couple of days here in Central Texas - A few more pics - John Chapman of Bastrop lost his collection of 175 cars - Dozens of corvettes, Shelby Cobra, 60 GTO, 57 Chevy Pickup, 47 Studebaker Pickup..... His house was saved but what a waste... He escaped in his Ford F250...

Ben in Austin <!-- attachments -->

 

He is alive - Thats the #1 priority

 

My heart just got heavy... At least he's safe...

 

My brother lives in Elgin. I was wondering how close to the fire is Elgin. Thanks ahead of time for the info. Fuzzy

 

Hi Ed,
The link below shows the current map of the Bastrop fire..
Elgin is approx. 18 miles north of Bastrop - the fire has been mainly burning to the South due to winds. I was surprised to see on the map how close the fire came to reaching highway 290 - that's the main highway from Austin through Elgin to Houston.

Your brother was definitely close enough to get a lot of smoke from the fire but he should be ok up in Elgin north of the fire. They are allowing some people back in to survey their homes - the fire is about 40% contained in the latest update.

Ben in Austin

Bastrop fire in Texas: updated maps, 1,386 homes destroyedWildfire Today

 

Friend of mine lives over there. I know he lost some of his autos, but thats about all I know. I have not heard from him in two days.