FIRE WARNING

[Billy Griffin]

Very interesting and frightening situation for Amarillo (Potter County) Texas.
Here's the link...

http://forecast.weather.gov/showsig...+Miles+SSE+Masterson+TX&product1=Fire+Warning

Wasn't really sure where to put this one. Weather and Chasing seemed the most appropriate, but a NOW thread on something this significant...
I'm anxious to hear the reports from our Panhandle members! I hope they can quickly get this one under control!

 

[jeremy wilson]

Local stations reporting homes and cars on fire in north Amarillo. Smoke can easily be seen on Amarillo radar.

 

[Jay McCoy]

Just got home after spending 8 1/2 hrs out on the fire. 50+mph winds didnt help. huge firenados spinning across the fields made it very hard to contain. It jumped a number of roads and fire breaks. Luckily we had a number of large Forest Service air tankers staged in the area to help and a fleet of road graders to plow the fires under. 4 Fires in total. 1 house destroyed and a few barns. All 4 fires were arson and by the way they were set and the areas it was the same person. Not sure how many acres yet but we had a number of major roads closed due to fire and smoke including the north loop. This is starting to remind me of 2006 all over again when we burned over 1 million acres in the panhandle. Tall dry grass and high winds. Hopefully we catch the arsonists and burn him alive. Just tie him down in front of his own fire!!!

I need a shower and my truck will smell like grass fire for days to come!! Still a few hotspots so AFD will be out most of the night watching the area. Would love to see a sat pic and radar image from this afternoon if anybody caught them.

By the way your link didnt work Billy so I am posting the actual warning text here

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FIRE WARNING
POTTER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
346 PM CST WED FEB 13 2008

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE POTTER
COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.

POTTER COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS HAVE REQUESTED A FIRE
WARNING FOR AN AREA IN NORTH AMARILLO. THE AREA IS BOUNDED BY NORTH
OF HASTINGS AVENUE...EAST OF BROADWAY DRIVE...AND SOUTH OF SAINT
FRANCIS. A LARGE WILDFIRE HAS RESULTED IN THE IMMEDIATE EVACUATION OF
THIS AREA WHICH IS IMMEDIATELY NORTH OF ROSS ROGERS GOLF COURSE.
ALL PEOPLE WITHIN THIS AREA SHOULD EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY TO THE
PLEASANT VALLEY BAPTIST CHURCH AT EAST 555 HASTINGS. OFFICIALS
REQUEST THAT YOU DO NOT CALL 911 FOR INFORMATION. EVACUEES ARE
ADVISED TO BRING MEDICATIONS...BABY FOOD...DIAPERS...AND PETS WITH
THEM. TAKE LEASHES...PET FOOD...AND PET CARRIERS WITH YOU. PLEASE
MAKE SURE YOUR NEIGHBORS ARE AWARE OF THE EVACUATIONS.

ONCE AGAIN...A FIRE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR EXTREME NORTHERN
AREAS IN AMARILLO IN POTTER COUNTY.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

Smoke was clearly visible from the office. The hotspot on the 3.9 IR was pretty apparent also. Luckily, RH's should increase quite a bit tonight, so that should help things.

 

[Jay McCoy]

Amarillo Globe News has posted some great photos

http://media.amarillo.com/photos/index.php?xml=86

 

[Dann Cianca]

Amarillo Globe News has posted some great photos

http://media.amarillo.com/photos/index.php?xml=86

Great pictures Jay ... love the firenado shot. Picture 36 seems rather random though ... just a student? Am I missing something? haha

 

[Jay McCoy]

Great pictures Jay ... love the firenado shot. Picture 36 seems rather random though ... just a student? Am I missing something? haha

One of the fires was very close to one of the local high schools and the students of this school live in the area that was evactuated so they were kept at school just standing around instead of being allowed to leave. All busses were also stopped from entering the area so may students were trapped on busses for a number of hours.

 

[Billy Griffin]

Jay - why wouldn't they just take the kids back to the school and attempt the notify the parents? Albiet, that's an off-topic question, but it just worries me when people are trapped in vehicles. Being in the oil and gas industry, and you may very well recall this incident, but there was a drilling rig crew that got caught out in the Texas panhandle a couple of years ago in a large wildfire, tried to run from it, got stuck, and they all perished in the fire!

 

[Jay McCoy]

Jay - why wouldn't they just take the kids back to the school and attempt the notify the parents? Albiet, that's an off-topic question, but it just worries me when people are trapped in vehicles. Being in the oil and gas industry, and you may very well recall this incident, but there was a drilling rig crew that got caught out in the Texas panhandle a couple of years ago in a large wildfire, tried to run from it, got stuck, and they all perished in the fire!

The busses were sent to a staging area well clear of the fire zone but they wouldnt let the kids just wonder off. The ones still at school were held there. Many of them drive themselves but ones without cars were able to call parents. Problem is that you couldnt get to the school to pick them up until the danger had passed due to the road closures. It was much safer to keep them all at the school where they could be accounted for and protected. Sortof like a lockdown. The other issue was the Fire Warning that was issued that lead to the evacuation and lockdown occurred about 10 minutes after school had let out so many kids had already left. Thats why the busses had already left. Just very bad timing. 15 minutes beofe that it looked like we had it contained before it rapidly jumped some roads and firebreaks.