My last post mentioned a massive grass fire moving towards my parents and sisters. Last night, I posted an update on Jami’s web site. Dad has described the day’s events and posted several fiery photos at a new blog called, A Day of Fire 3/10/06.
I’d love to read more descriptions of the day. Maybe mom and Julie will comment here.
Edit 3:51pm: That didn’t take long! Check the comments for Mom and Julie’s stories.
I can’t add much to the days events, but I’ll tell what I know. We came in from Amarillo yesterday about 5:00 pm, and had to drive through some of the smoke, but it wasn’t bad. We got here, and started to unload our stuff but decided we would keep it zipped up just in case. Some time around 6:30 I think, they decided that they would make food for the fire fighters, so I went to moms house to get out of the way. They didn’t think that I would be much help, and I agree with them, I’m still not moving very well. So, we do have an interesting story to tell Miah about her first car ride, and about coming home form the hosp, and the big fire that burned for so long, and about mom trying to give a tour of the place in the dark with a flash lite, and 5 small children running crazy. What a day.
Comment by Julieann — March 11, 2006 @ 3:32 pm
The fire was about 20 miles long. I don’t how wide it got. Uncle Mitch was on horseback about 3 miles from his pickup and trailer. When they got to the pickup and loaded they had to drive thru fire to get out. The guys couldn’t outrun it so they went to some pens in their north camp and let the fire burn around them. Scary stuff.
We started cooking about 7:30 or 8. Some of the guys that got the food had been on the fire line since about 2 in the afternoon. Biscuits and sausage was all I had that was portable. Britney (daughter of a friend) went to Dalhart to get sandwich food. The fire was mostly out by about 11:00. It was moving so fast before that.
The fire was started by a bronco rolling over. There weren’t any deaths and the only houses that burned were unoccupied.
I did get some of my things ready to load. The fire was about 3 miles south of us so a wind shift would have had us leaving.
Comment by Conda — March 11, 2006 @ 3:48 pm