From the Panhandle.....

[Valker]

Could I please request that you praying folks say some for the panhandle region? They have evacuated 8 towns because of prairie fires. They are evacuating 2 miles from my house. So far, there are six confirmed dead as a result of these fires. I-40 and many other roads are closed. This is Sunday night at 9:00 PM. Thanks again.:giveup:

[Tourmeister]

Wow! I had no idea, guess I should watch the news a few times a year :brainsnap Is your home in danger?

[kurt]

I can't believe I've heard nothing about this. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[Valker]

Is your home in danger?
Not so far. But they have evacuated three neighborhoods here in town so far tonight. I can see the flames and the smoke is so thick and high that it shows as rain on weather radar. We had 60+mph winds today. I rode back from Amarillo with a tailwind...bet my Valkyrie got 60 mpg!!!!

[Valker]

Looks like it has passed to the east of us.....Winds have dropped into the 20s and temps to near 40....
Thanks for the prayers.

[Valker]

Whew! Total of over 700,000 acres burned in the area. No one yet knows how many homes. I have heard reports of 10 confirmed dead.:

[Rob_S]

What towns were affected? How close to Amarillo was it? I have family around Pampa and Canadian. My Mother lives in Amarillo. I just spoke to her on the phone around 8:00 and she didn't mention the fires.

rob

[Tourmeister]

WOW!! 700,000 acres is pretty incredilble! The fires in NM and Colorado in recent years were considerably smaller if I recall correctly! Scary stuff!

[Valker]

What towns were affected? How close to Amarillo was it? I have family around Pampa and Canadian. My Mother lives in Amarillo. I just spoke to her on the phone around 8:00 and she didn't mention the fires.

rob
Canadian was affected. I am not sure how much. Wheeler, Miami, Lefors, Skellytown, parts of Pampa, Northern Amarillo were evacuated. I just came from north of Pampa-fire was within a mile of my house. Several friends had front and back yards burned. I only saw one house that was destroyed. The firefighters around here have worked nonstop since Sunday morning at 10:00. It is now Monday afternoon. I can still see several fires still burning. They have allowed a few of the towns to be reinhabited, but not all. GO VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS!:clap: :clap: :clap:

[DucGirl]

what's strange is that apparently this isn't getting much news coverage in the houston area, but it's all over the news here in the dallas area.

My mom grew up in Pampa (as did my grandfather and my fiance and his family), the only way she found out about it was from an email list of her classmates from PHS.

We could smell the fires here in the Dallas area over the past few days.

best wishes from here!

[Squeaky]

I've been keeping up with it on cnn.com - apparently the national news is all over it. Here in Houston, I've seen it on most of the news shows but only for short clips and bits. Unfortunately, people around here probably feel like it can never happen to us.

[kurt]

In Austin, we know it's going to happen to us. All those multi-million dollar houses built into the hill sides all have something in common. 50 years of kindling building up, substandard water capacity and very limited access once it starts.

Glad to hear your safe Valker, still thinking of you guys.

[Gilk51]

The first I had heard of it was on KLTY/KRLD news this morning. They mentioned several local firefighter groups leaving today for the panhandle. So, there must still be significant danger. Be safe & keep us posted...

[sharkey]

The area is on my prayer list. News was showing livestock that had been burned alive. I hope TX and the US step up to the plate because this is really going to hurt the ranchers. I keep praying for rain too.

I've seen a pretty good amount of coverage on the fires on the local news agencies here in Dallas. I think I heard deat toll was 11 so far.

[Valker]

Thanks for the responses. Yep-the danger still is high. I've heard reports of 10,000 head of cattle and horses dying. One local I was talking with at breakfast yesterday was telling of finding cattle with all the hair gone, eyelids burned off, ears gone, etc. He hates having to put them down when he finds them. Still more fires breaking out. A very nice wooded area (rare around here) was completely taken out. Thousands of miles of fencing is gone.:eek2:

[klrno2]

:shock:

:pray: