Local Fire-Scary afternoon

[Marsha Cassada]

There is vacant, unused land across from our house and it caught on fire this afternoon. A guy was baling up the grass and his baler caught on fire. Luckily there was no wind. A neighbor used his bulldozer to make a fire lane and 3 rural fire departments came. We had the hroses in the trailer, just in case. It seems to be under control now, but the large smouldering bales are a concern if the wind picks up. The Wildlife Refuge about 30 miles away is on fire. The smoke drifting here is pretty terrible.

I took this from the porch:

 

[Miniv]

Just a WEE bit too close for comfort! Yikes!

 

[little lady]

Now that is scary...I agree too close for comfort!! Stay safe.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Oh, MAN!!!!That is scary!!!

 

[AnnaC]

Goodness, not a good position to be in - very scarey! Take care and stay safe.

 

[Sterling]

I would have loaded up the horses and had every critter and human at the ready to evacuate too. Hope all is well today.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

My husband said we had to worry about the 3 P's: ponies, pets, paper.

Walked that way this morning and saw the baler that started the fire. You can see our house in the background. It would actually be a good thing for all that dead grass to burn, but the risk is too great to allow it. Plus, the guy lost a lot of his hay bales, and even poor hay is like gold around here.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Fire started up again. We have 40 mph winds today. the wind has changed direction and our place is no longer at risk, but if the pasture on the other side had caught, it might have gone all the way to the river. The smouldering round bales relighted. The dozer guy went back to work and the FD's all came back. The poor guy is going to have a terrific FD bill, plus losing his equipment to the fire.

We subscribe to the local rural FD, so there is no fee if we have to call them. But this guy does not.

We need rain so badly.

 

[weebiscuit]

I would have been terrified, Marsha! That fire was just too darn close to your place! And what a shocker to "think" it's out, and then have it suddenly start up again!

I'm just stunned at how brown everything looks down there by you! I knew you were all desperate for some good rainfalls, but in my *green* Wisconsin mind, I guess I just didn't picture it that dry. How sad for y'all... and the poor farmer! Losing his equipment, bales, and then getting a F.D. bill on top of it! Let's just hope he was insured!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Another fire today! Neighbor called this morning in a panic. While feeding cattle, the pickup had an electircal short. Hot grease dripped down on the grass and started the fire. She drove the pickup back to the house to call for help while he worked on the fire. My husband rushed over and the pickup was on fire. He got an extinguisher out of the barn and put out the fire, and the couple were able to stamp out the grass fire. It was where the cattle had tromped/eaten the grass short or else it would have been terrible. Whew! What next!

I think I will buy an extinguisher for each vehicle. The way things are right now, even if we don't need it, we may run into a situation where it will be necessary.

We've been so fortunate all summer, with fires all around us. I feel so badly for our poor state--first the ice storms, then tornados, drought, and now fire. 2011 has not been a good year here.

 

[cretahillsgal]

It seems to be getting worse. I drove to LAwton yesterday and had to drive through the miles of smoke coming from the fires on the Refuge. And now Ive been watching the new cast about the fires in TX. What next? We need rain soooo badly.

Sandy, it is near impossible to describe how dry it is here. Its amazing that the grass doesnt just burst into flames. The grass is so dead that it just pulverizes when you walk or drive accross it. Our cactus are dying. And even our mysquites are dying which I have always joked that it was impossible to kill a mesquite tree. I know other parts of the state have gotten rain recently and that helps. But our little SW corner of OK (armpit of TX LOL) has gotten only 2.4" of rain in the last 10 months.

For comparison these pictures were taken in the same place of my front yard. The first 2 around this time last year and the last one a couple weeks ago. You can see the only green here now are the mesquite trees which are now turning yellow themselves. This is my beautiful front yard.