Fires in Alpine and Fort Davis

In my earlier post I talked a little bit about the fires here in Alpine, and the one in Fort Davis.  I've been reading up on them and thought maybe I would include a couple links to the articles here.  The fire in Fort Davis has claimed somewhere are 50 houses so far and they are not completely out of the red yet!  As far as I understand there are still firefighters and U.S. Forest Service people working to make sure it does not spread any further than it already has.  I heard on the news earlier today that there were bad storms - tornadoes and what come with them - up north in the tornado alley area... it's amazing how much damage weather can do! (Not to mention everything that happened in Japan last month!)  There is nowhere to hide when it comes to nature - further proof that as much as we may like to think we do, we have absolutely no control over weather and the destruction it can cause!  Anyway... on that depressing note, here are some articles if anyone is interested... When you read the articles they talk about fires in other counties too.  The counties near me are Brewster Co. (Alpine is in this county), Jeff Davis Co. (Fort Davis is in this county), and Presidio Co. (Marfa, which is a town about a half hour west of Alpine is in this county).  I'm not sure where the other counties are in relation to Alpine.


Alpine Avalanche (Alpine's local newspaper):
http://www.alpineavalanche.com/front/article_eef2867c-6303-11e0-a4f8-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

Houston Chronicle:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7515488.html

Boston Globe:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/04/10/hot_dry_weather_stokes_raging_texas_wildfires/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Boston+Globe+--+National+News

Here are some photos I copied from a facebook group called Fort Davis Fires.  The photos were taken by locals who live in Fort Davis, Marfa, Alpine, and other surrounding places.

Fort Davis Fire

Alpine Fire

This kind of stuff makes me feel bad that I ever complain about the desert (like I did in my last blog!).  Seeing these pictures was so devastating.  Fort Davis and the surrounding mountains are by far my favorite place down here.  I can't image what it looks like in person.  I'm going to be going up there in the next couple of weeks to do my field work at the Davis Mountains Preserve and I'm sure it will be a real shock to see how it has changed.   I've heard that no one was killed or injured in any of these fires, which is great, but I can't imagine how people who have lost their homes must feel.  I'm not used to this sort of 'disaster' and it has been interesting to see and hear how people are helping out and responding to the events.  As bad as the situation is, it is something that I have never experienced before - especially since it is a relatively isolated area without many people.  You don't have the media running around trying to cause an uproar - instead the media simply presents you with the facts and updates their original reports regularly.  It's a nice change!  Everyone works together to help where they can and get stuff done.  Although I wish it hadn't happened, it was nice to see that people are able to calmly work together to help each other out.

Anyway, thought I'd let you all know what's going on down here.  Keep everyone in your prayers - people who have lost their homes, and those that are still continuing to fight the fires that are currently burning and the fires that are sure to begin elsewhere.

Laura