OT: Fire! Fire! Fire!

[stitchlover]

I live in North Texas, west of Fort Worth in a little town called Aledo. Let me tell you it is getting scary out here! There are fires all over the place right now. The smoke is incredible. My house smells like the fireplace chimney was closed and I tried to start a fire that backed up into the house.
I live outside of town where there is no city water so I'm not too sure if we end up with a fire in the neighborhood what exactly does the fire department do with no hydrants to tap into?
On a lighter note...the town north of us, Hudson Oaks, has a portion being evacuated due to a fire that is not under control right now. At this point there are no homes in immediate danger but the wind is horrible right now so they are taking precautions at this point. My girlfriend just text and said "Hudson Oaks is evacuating areas due to the fires. Quick run to Shreik's (the liquor store) and save the wine!"
So please keep us in your thoughts. If the wind would just die down things would be much better here.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Stay safe! Sending pixie dust your way!

 

[simonkodousek]

Stay safe!!

 

[klam_chowder]

My thoughts are with you and your community - here's pixie dust in hopes there's minimal damage to people & property



cheers,

 

[rn4val]

Keep safe. I live in Oklahoma City and we are having mutiple fires in the suburbs. Many homes destroyed and the wind is terrible. Keep all the people whose homes are affected and the firefighters in your prayers
Debbie

 

[christygobar]

The wind is so bad, I'm over an hour away (east of Dallas in Garland) and it has been smoky since I left work at 4! Not caring for that one bit! I hope it's contained a good bit more since this afternoon....I'd never even heard of Hudson Oaks until this afternoon (only heard the news say it was by Weatherford)

 

[Willow1213]

Oh my! Stay safe! My fiance's aunt and family live in Aledo! Hope everything with them is okay.

 

[medicgirl911]

The fire departments have tanker trucks...trucks that carry the water in them, that the regular fire trucks attach to to pump the water. They can use some pump thing to pull water from lakes, rivers, etc to refill as well.

I hope you and your community stay safe. Pray for your firefighters!!

 

[stitchlover]

It does make you pause for a moment when you realize there are no fire hydrants in your neighborhood! I think we have a paid fire department now instead of just a volunteer one. Makes you feel a little better.

CNN is reporting some of the area was having hurricane-like wind gusts out here. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. DH is supposed to mow the lawn and I would hate for him to breath all that but I would also hate for the yard to not get mowed too!

 

[Stacy's a freak]

Yes, the fire departments have tanker trucks and, in general, they partner up with other local fire departments to shuttle tankers from a water source to the scene and back to the water source to refill.

As for paid vs. volunteer ... I don't want to get flamed or start an argument but whether a firefighter is paid a salary or volunteers his/her time, they are all professionals with a great deal of training. And in my experience, you generally get a better turnout with "man"power from a volunteer department vs. the paid ones who have a set schedule with just enough people at the firehouse to "man" the truck. In my area, when there's a fire, the volunteers come out of the woodwork. It's almost comical, but we rarely have a shortage of "man"power from our volunteer departments.

So, again, not looking to start an argument, but don't discount those "volunteers". They are firefighters too

 

[adsrtw]

Be safe! Hoping for the best.

 

[chickie]

Take care down there. I wish there was a way to send some of our rain down to you guys!
Keep safe and we'll keep you in our prayers.

 

[SamSam]

CNN was reporting on it earlier today and I sympathize with everyone affected. We often have wind driven fires here in Kansas and they can be very difficult to get under control.
I hope the wind dies down and the fires are quickly contained.

 

[safetymom]

Stay safe. I hope you don't have any problems with fire. We smell smoke outside quite often from wildfires.