Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Smokehouse Creek Fire - Texas Panhandle

Anybody know how Angus 55 is doing, mb

Snow rolling in now, hope you guys get a bunch.

I saw the firefighter that died was from the North Hays FD, west of Austin in Hays County.

We are rooting for you today, Angus.

Sent text to a friend yesterday to check on him and this was his response.

No, right in the middle of it. Looks like my mom, brother, sister, and nephew lost houses. Front porch burned off one of the shops and lost about 20 cars but nothing important was lost at the shops

we are, a little devastated from the destruction. My brother and his family got trapped for a bit and mom had flames at her house by the time she got out, but all made it out safe. The rest is just stuff

Pretty sure his family is in Fritch. He has a couple of car shops in Borger but lives down by Palo Duro canyon

Fritch is really bad. My prayers are out to them.

I should clarify on my Fed comment. It is the overarching federal command, driven by DC politics I don't care for. At that level often policy gets put above results and I am a results oriented kind of guy. The agencies themselves (BLM, USFS, F&W, etc.) are good, and know their business. I am in the fire business. I am Production Manager at a company that builds water and foam tanks for fire trucks, I have been doing this job for 25 years. We deal with the fed agencies quite a bit building tanks for their trucks. BLM especially we builds lots of tanks for those guys and work with them close. I have a lot of respect for those guys and what they do. I like them and get along with them great.

Problem is, these fires we have up here can get really big, really fast. Most of the federal firefighting assets are out west, many hours away. Air assets can't fly when the wind is like it was on Monday and Tuesday when these fires got so big and out of control. By the time the fires get out of control like that you are already a day in. There is just no realistic way to get ground assets here from out west in less than 2-3 days. Often by that time the winds have died down an turned and more localized assets from all over TX, OK, and NM have pooled together to get things under control. Its not that the fed agencies could not be a big help. They just can't get here in time. And also add to the fact where they are at their fire seasons have not started yet and a lot of the equipment has not been pulled out of winter stand down and serviced back up yet. Our fire season starts 6-8 weeks before theirs does. By the time they crank up we have hit spring green up and our season is mostly over.

At any rate don't feel like I am dogging the fed agencies, I am not.

The fatality at Stinnett was not a firefighter, it was an 83 year old woman.

The wind this morning is near zero and temps right about freezing. That is really going to take the sass out of remaining hot spots. I feel like things should be pretty much back under control after today. At least for now, until the winds and heat comes back. Fire season is far from over.

One rancher they had on the news had about 1000 head before the fire. Now he has about 20.

I may have already said it in this thread, IDK. The lucky ones are the ones who have no pasture left and are looking for feed for their livestock. The ones who weren't so lucky don't have any livestock left to feed. Or a barn to put them in. Or a home to go to. Like mentioned above though, that is just stuff. It looks like the panhandle was really lucky this time as far as loss of life. The one fatality is all I have heard of.

TX forest service has been great help locally on fires. Responded quickly when called and provided good help and assets.

Feds. Well I wouldn't trust the feds to much of anything. But maybe the fire part is better than the rest.

You know the fed response has to be requested right, they just don't show up.
TFS had to request the help before it could be mobilized, they finally did that and now winds are dying down for flights to help.
No amount of men and machines can stop a wind blown fire like these, mother nature has to help.

Prayers to you all affected, hope this cooler weather and snow helps today !!!

On the subject of federal fire fighting agencies, look up Yarnell Hill Fire and tell me how efficient they are. Fire started by a lightning strike several miles from town. Yarnell volunteer fire fighters showed up to put out the fire and BLM told them to stand down, it is on BLM land we will deal with it in the morning. Nineteen firefighters made the ultimate sacrifice and burned about half the town. Mostly elderly people, many with no insurance. Government doesn’t create or solve anything.

It depends on whether the executive branch is democrat or republican.

Obama punished Texas before, when the governor asked for wildfire assistance.

DO NOT depend on an administration that has been weaponized against conservatives.


In case you forgot...

https://www.politifact.com/factchec...-commissioner-todd-staples-says-obama-a/

This guy's Facebook page has info on where to send donations and how to volunteer.
https://www.facebook.com/rjkeeth

Yep. And Lying Hiden Biden will also do EVERYTHING possible to FUQK TX Over after Gov Abbott has embarrassed the Traitorous POS so many times over the INVASION of TX and America by encouraging and letting in over 7 MILLION Illegals since occupying the White House.

Yep. The TX Forrest Service folks are GTG here. They are always one of the first crews on sight when there’s a wildfire around here.
Especially when the local small town Volunteer Fire Departments are overwhelmed due to lack of funding and manpower.

Did the USFS respond first, because they LIT them?
That's what happened here - 2 years ago.
FEMA has paid less than 10% of what was committed.

I am a big fan of TFS. We work with them all the time, good guys. There is lots and lots of equipment in rural VFD's that would not be there at all if it were not for TFS. Every rural VFD up here has several trucks that were funded through TFS grants. That is a big deal to small departments working with tight budgets.

Same down here.

It sure doesn't take them long to respond here either.

I don't have a lot of time at the moment, things are pretty busy here. But a few things I wanted to put out real quick.

Yesterday they were saying this was the 2nd largest fire in TX history. If they aren't saying it yet they probably will be soon, when it is all said and done it is going to be the biggest or damn close.

Our production shop is right here on Hwy 83 that heads north up to the Wheeler/Canadian area, about 45-75 miles or so. As I was turning in the gate an RV went by with 3 welding trucks right behind it. No doubt that was a crew headed north to start helping rebuild infrastructure. Not just farm and ranch, or houses/barns. That is also oilfield country. So plenty of that too.

Anyways, it made me think of something worth mentioning. When it comes to aid people tend to think in terms of food/water/personal supplies or hay and feed for animals. And those things absolutely are important. But for the most part lots of that has been donated and the supply lines for it are doing fairly well. There are other items that are not thought about so much but are very important. Vet supplies coming to mind as one thing. Not all the animals died, some can make it. They have burned lungs, smoke inhalation, and are in a weakened state. Today it is in the 30's and sleet/snow. They are going to be getting sick now.

There are 3 counties that are roughly 900-950 square miles each, and are 60% to 80% burned. All of those fences and gates are gone or will have to be rebuilt. Fencing supplies is a huge thing. The Volunteer FD's need help too. Most are on really tight budgets and the volunteers are fighting fire for free. Sure, Gatoraide and things like that people think of. But they need diesel, and tires ruined in the fire, broken suspensions fixed, any number of things that happen when you are out in the rough country with limited visibility.

Sorry I don't have links for all that kind of stuff. I see lots of it on FB, but my skills are limited in converting those things over to here. I'm sure if someone had some time they could find them.

Here's a couple of known official drop points for hay, feed, fencing or vet supplies.

Biden is the one that ordered the hit.

The TAMU Vet Emergency Team is treating animals from the fire.

https://vetmed.tamu.edu/vet/

Donations can be made through the link to the state site above.

I try and post reliable, known places to give time, money, hay, etc. Don't just send $$ without confirming who it goes to, and how it will be used.

Are there fire ants in the affected area? If so they probably won't accept hay donations from Louisiana or other areas infected with fire ants. I have some 2022 rolls stored outside that are still good enough.