Virginia Wildfire Information and Prevention: Today It's TEXAS

A couple of very interesting facts from TFS PIO's this morning.

To many times we focus on the negatives, look at these numbers for structures SAVED. A BIG THANKS goes out to all those firefighters no matter what logo they have on their uniform for the hard work and dedication it took and takes. You all are amazing!

# of homes saved: 14,011

# of other structures saved: 8,936

Total # saved: 22,947

# of homes lost: 474

# of other structures lost: 1,368

Total # lost: 1,842

# of aviation drops to date: 18,755

# of gallons of water dropped: 8,632,406

# of gallons of fire retardant dropped: 2,725,960

(note: all air operation figures are from Dec. 21, 2011, when record-keeping began)

LOTS of water to bad mother nature is not helping add to the numbers. So just how much is 11.3 million gallons.

Do you remember watching Michael Fred Phelps (bet you didn't know his middle name was Fred) win all those gold medals? Well the olympic size swimming pools hold about 600,000 gallons so that means that so far TFS has dropped a tad over 19 olympic size swimming pools worth of water and retardant.

Virginia has several what is referred to as single resources in Texas. A single resource (usually people) is individuals with expertise in specific areas that supports either directly or indirectly the suppression efforts.

There is also a Wildfire Prevention and Education Team being deployed to East Texas this weekend. No Virginia folks are assigned to this team, but some assistance may be provided remotely. Some might say it’s a bit late for prevention with all the wildfires currently burning. However now is a very good time for this important work! Any wildfire that can be prevented will only reduce the stress and pressure on resources assigned to current wildfires. Also that one fire prevented just might have been that killer fire or one that burned up numerous homes, businesses, other properties and changed the lives of many Texans. http://www.southernwildfireprevention.sref.info/

Below is a list of the more notable wildfires currently burning in Texas.
Additional information can be found at http://www.inciweb.org/

Name of Fire and Acres
Springer Ranch1,200

Rhoades Ranch 2,010

Two County 176

Encinitos 3,200

Gruhlkey 350

Mackentire 935

S Curve 2,000

Bird Ranch 2 29,976

Camp Boothe Oaks 1,116

Burdett 1,502

Honey Island 1,274

Dos Amigos 19,391

Canyon 16,803

Mcclarty 716

Sutton Cemetery 170

Lamar 250

Bolt 1,300

Russ Complex 550

Tejano Canyon 12,311

A few quotes from local papers out of TX this morning ...

It's adding up to a potential nightmare scenario, fire experts say.
"It's scary for us what the late-summer conditions could look like," Spencer said. "Our winter-spring fire season has basically merged with our late-summer season.
"2011 as it stands is a record year, and it stands to be even more so. There's no relief in sight -- it's only going to get worse."

Wildfire potential will be very high or extreme in areas where very dry or partially dormant vegetation exists due to the drought. A red flag warning is in effect today for far western Oklahoma and adjacent parts of north Texas.

PALO PINTO, Texas - The drought and the heat have fires burning in Palo Pinto County again. Residents there are still recovering from the catastrophic wildfires that scorched much of the county less than two months ago.

The TFS said the largest fire was started by a campfire. It has burned about 1,900 acres and destroyed two vacant homes. The second fire ignited by lightening has burned at least 200 acres.

Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/061511-wildfires-burning-again-in-palo-pinto#ixzz1PROXRA1J

Everything is big in TX even the snags. OK you guys/gals out west they might not be as big as yours!!