Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Wildfires
Wildfires Char Homes in Oklahoma, Texas
I know this is pretty nasty of me to say, but at least it wasn't the trees that caused all the hardship. You know how they alway say that because the loggers weren't allowed to go in and log, the forrest fires were worse than they would have been.
CROSS PLAINS, Texas (AP) -- By the time the smoke cleared Wednesday, more than 100 homes across wildfire-stricken Texas and Oklahoma lay in ruins and at least five people were dead, including two elderly women trapped in their homes by the flames.What a horrible thing to happen, especially during a drought. According to articles, many different things helped fan the blazes.
The hardest-hit community during Tuesday's blazes was Cross Plains, a West Texas ranching and oil-and-gas town of 1,000 people some 150 miles from Dallas. Cross Plains also lost about 50 homes and a church after the flames raced through grass dried out by the region's worst drought in 50 years...
...Wind gusting to 40 mph drove the flames across nearly 20,000 acres in the two states. At least 73 blazes were reported in Texas over two days, and dozens more broke out in Oklahoma.What type of natural calamity will happen next, I wonder?
Fires were still smoldering Wednesday in four Texas counties. One new fire broke out Wednesday in an isolated area of eastern Oklahoma but was quickly contained.
Severe drought set the stage for the fires, which authorities believe were started mostly by people shooting off fireworks, tossing cigarettes or burning trash in spite of bans imposed because of the drought. A fallen power line apparently started one Oklahoma blaze...
I know this is pretty nasty of me to say, but at least it wasn't the trees that caused all the hardship. You know how they alway say that because the loggers weren't allowed to go in and log, the forrest fires were worse than they would have been.
