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not sure if many of you caught the coverage of some of the wildfires in north texas on NBC earlier in the week around the "ringold, texas" areas. that was a crazy night. fire spread probably 40 ish or so miles to the east with wind gusts of up to 50mph. i was well to the southeast and out of harms way, but several of my friends were not. mind you this is a very rural area...we had entire communities emptying which was almost unheard of here. several were evacuating to my town, it was utter chaos. highways were turned into one way. police and emergency workers denying access to many areas (thank god for back roads knowledge!). these were merley grassfires, very little timber involved, but they did ALOT of damage. being as my house was safe, i turned my attention to several friends who were in dyer straights. several times we made mad dashes to mates houses to fight off fires that were literally licking at the walls. one in particular was up on a hill..and as i looked all about all i could see was fire. you could see it in the grass, and worse yet...you could see larger colums of fire....which was peoples houses on fire. from there i could see the better part of a dozen homes completley engulfed in flames. and it went on for miles upon miles...as far as the eye could see (probably 5-10 miles) let me tell you...that is a choker right there...make your heart sink down to your toes, not to mention VERY eerie and almost down right scary. after taking care of several friends, many of us loaded up into tanker trucks and went all over the area delivering thousands of gallons of water. we had just about every FD from 3 surrounding counties in every direction including some from the DFW area, and from 2 states. many of whom we came upon were way out in the middle of nowhere and had virtually nothing to fight off the fires with. passing truck after truck with whatever these people could manage to get out with. dozens upon dozens of emergency vehicles lighting up the sky. it was truly a nighmarish scene which i wont soon forget.
i understand that this sort of thing happens all the time...but its so different actually getting out there and it happening to you, rather than watching it on the tube. and to make matters worse, this county is a very sparsley poplulated area...i graduated with 11 people in my HS class. so everyone knew everyone and many were just like family. i drove by more houses than i cared to that belonged to old classmates, friends, and parent figures that were utterly burned to the ground. several famalies that i know lost EVERYTHING they owned because they were helping other less fortunate people to escape to saftey and never even knew their homes were about to go up. no, it wasnt the biggest, or the baddest fire. and compared to many it is a mere blip on the radar screen. but to watch your area and friends devistated by something of this nature is utterly gut wrenching. and on top of that, this is an area that relies heavily on cattle and other agricultural business. we were already in the midst of a drought..and with the grunt of winter comming, many have nothing to feed their cattle...because all the grass and hay went up together. in just this little streach over 400 cattle were lost, close to 100 homes..and probably double or triple that for various other structures.
nothing is quite as humbling as watching that fire sweep across the plains and destroying much of what youve known most all your life. standing with classmates and friends as their houses are taken. being relied upon in such a serious situation to deliver the life blood of the entire operation..and i was a mere citizen. iv had no training, just an ordinary guy trying to do his part for his community. this will deffinatley be something that weighs on my mind heavily for quite some time..and an experience i wont ever forget. -----------------------------------------
2011 Nissan Xterra Pro-4x
2007 Kawasaki Ninja 650R
1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS-NX 75 shot, AEM CAI, P&P t/b and intake mani-SOLD
1964 Buick Electra 225-all original, all power options, 325hp, 445ft/lbs tq
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