Please pray! High winds and fires in the TX Panhandle

[SunnyBrook]

We had lots of fires burning in the area today. Many towns were evacuated. My parents own a house in a subdivision that was under mandatory evacuation. We know that some homes in this subdivision were damaged, but won't know the extent until tomorrow morning. Longhorn lives near some areas that were evacuated also, although I think his town is ok now. Last we heard, a fire was heading towards my BIL's house. Their town was evacuated, and they live in the middle of a field several miles out of town, so their house could be a sitting duck (so to speak). The interstate was shut down after a 9 car pileup in the smoke left 4 dead and 6 injured. At least 2 more died in the fires.

I called my sis in Oklahoma to let her know what was up only to find out that a fire was burning right outside their town as well.

This whole area (over several states) has had almost no moisture all winter, so the fields are dry...dry...dry. Please pray for the winds to die down and PRAY FOR RAIN!

[SunnyBrook]

Link to story
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031306dntexfires.1cda3d58.html

Another link with some pictures
http://www.amarillo.com/stories/031306/new_4206371.shtml

[SunnyBrook]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187928,00.html

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/15/wildfires.ap/index.html

Please pray for us. We have friends and family in this area who have been affected and are in danger of losing homes and livestock. My parents had the fire burn the grass in the front and back yard of one of their houses, but the house was spared, as were all the neighbors' houses. My dad has cattle. His land was spared, but now it will be extremely hard to find hay to buy to feed them until rains come and grass begins to grow. Our town is unaffected so far, but our fire department, including a volunteer fireman from our church, is helping fight these fires.

[Rhino]

The panhandle must have changed. When I lived in Lubbock, there wasn't anything to burn!

[SunnyBrook]

Ha ha...very NOT funny, Rhino...

Those open spaces provide the grain that becomes your bread and the grazing land for the cows that become your T-Bone steak! They are peppered with drilling rigs, pump jacks, and oil pipeline. In Gray county alone, over 1,000 pump jacks have been halted in this week's fires, due to lack of electricity and burnt belts and motors, and many plastic pipelines have been melted. Hundreds of electric poles have been burned, with some areas not expected to regain power for up to 4 weeks. These small towns that you disregard as "nothing" are home to thousands of wonderful (for the most part) conservative fellow Americans!

I'm really disappointed in your flippant response, especially since the links I provided detail 11 human deaths, 9 injured firefighters, and 10,000 plus dead cattle and horses, along with close to 1,000,000 acres of burned land and buildings. A local pilot flew south this morning and reported back to us that the landscape looks like the surface of the moon.

http://www.amarillo.com/news/panhandlefires/

[Rhino]

I know what's there. As I said, I used to live there. And I wasn't being flippant or in any way diminishing anyones' suffering. I was merely making an observation. When I lived there (1976-1977), there really wasn't much of anything to burn out there, at least not around Lubbock. Amarillo may be different. You misinterpreted me, so you can smooth down the ruffled fur.

[Longhorn_Platinum]

http://www.amarillo.com/images/031606/37278_512.jpg

[SunnyBrook]

Good graphic...except the northern fire spread north through Roberts and into Ochiltree and Lipscomb counties last night. They managed to contain it at the edge of the caprock, but it is still burning down in the canyon & breaks, which could cause big problems, depending on the wind today.

Too close for comfort, eh Longhorn? At this point, it looks like close to 3/4 of Roberts County has burned. Because it has the Canadian River cutting through it, along with the lovely canyons, Roberts County is extremely sparsely populated, but it is home to many ranchers, livestock, drilling rigs, and lots of deer and other wildlife.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Lord and Creator of Heaven and Earth,
Your works are magnificent and divinely wrought, and we recognize Your Hand in all that we see around us. Father, a great urgency is upon our heart for Your children in suffering states which are facing consuming fires. God we would but ask Your Will be magnified, but we also petition that if it be in Your Will You calm the winds and still the flames. In whatever path You have designated, we pray peace and comfort for all those affected by this, and ask Your Grace and Mercy be extended to every field and home, heart and hand, family, loved one and friend. We also desire hedges of protections and safties surround those dealing with these fires, as well as guidance and direction for the leaders as they make decisions regarding evacuations and resources. Yahweh, we do call upon You in our hour of desparation, and commit this matter to Your Control. In all things we acknowledge Your Sovereignty, and can only pray in our human frailty the ability to continue to set our eyes upon You, especially in times of fear and trouble. Great and Mighty is our God, and we rest in Blessed Assurance, so we submit this unto You, in the Name of Your Precious Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ,
Amen.