Fire In Area Of Texas Renaissance Festival But Not To Close

[MrHyde]

From The Navasota Examiner.  This was written by Scott MacDonald:

A fire that destroyed more than 30 homes and 4,000 acres in Grimes County on Sunday could get even worse on Monday, a Texas Forest Service official said Monday morning.

"We've got 25 percent containment right now and we're hoping it will hold," said Lexi Maxwell of the Texas Forest Service. "There are red flag warnings today and the winds are expected to be up to 25 mph with gusts anywhere from 30-40 mph. The winds weren't as high yesterday. Today can be worse than yesterday."

Maxwell said an estimated 35 homes, 20 out buildings and 4,000 acres have already been destroyed from the fire that began possibly from an ember from a charcoal pit in the southern part of the county. Officials said they don't have an exact address on where the blaze ignited and couldn't confirm whether it started in Grimes County or Waller County, but that it was somewhere very close to the boundary between the two counties.

The fire moved northward through Grimes County and is currently between SH 105, FM 1774 and CR 362. Folks who live in the wind direction or in the smoke area are advised to prepare for evacuation, the Texas Forest Service said. People evacuating should pack a bag for a night and grab any necessary medications and prescriptions as well as take any pets that can't take care of themselves.

The Texas Renaissance Festival fairground is the post for people who have evacuated or plan on doing so. There will be food, water and shelter there. Officials request all evacuees to check in at the Renaissance Festival even if they do not plan on staying there.

"We need basic information like names, addresses and contact numbers so we can let them know when it's safe to go back to their homes. That is if they have something to go back to," Maxwell said.

High Point Elementary is being used as an incident command post, not an evacuation post.

The only roads that remain closed are county roads 302, 304, 306 and Millstone. SH 105 and FM 1774 are open.

The Texas Forest Service has four bulldozers on the ground the try to break the fire - two on the east flank of the fire and two on the west flank. There is a helicopter doing recon work and several state and county officials are doing recon work on the ground to further paychecks the damage.

Nine fire departments have been on the scene since Sunday, including all volunteer fire department in Grimes County, Navasota FD, South Brazos Valley Fire Departments as well as Montgomery, Hempstead, Magnolia, Monaville and TriCounty Fire Departments as well as the Texas Forest Service and the U.S. Forest Service.

There has only been one reported injury. A man whose name was not released was in the operation area and got pinned between two fire trucks when one of them was backing up. The man was taken to a county hospital, Maxwell said.

People are advised to stay out of the restricted areas because of the very unstable environment.

"Trees will come down since they've been smoldering since yesterday," Maxwell said. "If a root is burning and someone steps on it, it could sink and someone could be standing in a pit of hot lava. And because structures are lost, the smoke is so much more toxic.

The forest services advise to place cigarette butts or anything else that can spark a flame in proper receptacles. They also advise against any outdoor grilling.

Weather

There is a 20 percent chance of rain Monday, a 30 percent chance of rain on Tuesday and a 60 percent chance of rain on Wednesday, with some of those heavy.

Other fires

There were three fires in North Zulch on Sunday and all have been extinguished. A fire is raging on the county line between Walker and Madison counties and is 50 percent contained. A fire in Trinity County has already consumed 15,000 acres according to one local news report.

http://www.navasotaexaminer.com/news/article_d520baf6-9b58-11e0-969c-001cc4c03286.html

[MrHyde]

For those that love TRF but come from afar, here are some pictures from some of the local news media of the fire in that area:

[ravic]

Ravic.... I have never gotten to go to Toon Town.  Can you give some directions to it as well as when it opens, etc.  I can't seem to find a web site.

Toon Town isn't really a public part of the faire. It is the permanent, mostly Rennie, residential subdivision along the back side of the faire. 

[MrHyde]

Here is an update from KTRK.  This was written by Katie McCall:

Officials have just ordered a mandatory evacuation for all homes along County Road 305 near Navasota.  According to the Texas Forest Service, the Dyer Mill Fire jumped at least one fire line, burning about 3,600 acres. About 100 homes have been evacuated within the burned area.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8201488

Here is a link to a video:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=8200371

Here is another video:
http://www.khou.com/video/featured-videos/Raw--Aerials-over-wildfire-in-Walker-County-124187559.html

[Bonny Pearl]

I wish the rain would hurry up and get here!     I am seeing some clouds but nothing of the full coverage type that will drop some serious rain...

[mpullen]

News just announced that the evacuation point at TRF has been shutdown and everyone evacuated, believe to Navasota High School.

[MrHyde]

From the Bryan/College Station Eagle.  This was written by Shauna Lewis, Matthew Watkins, and Cassie Smith:

The raging wildfire that's burned 5,000 acres in Grimes County is spreading west and northeast, and likely will burn down more homes along the way, officials said Tuesday.

Almost 2,000 homes are in the 36,612-acre evacuation zone where residents are being pushed from their belongings and property because of a blaze that started when fire in a barbecue pit got out of control, authorities confirmed.

At least 26 homes have been annihilated, but emergency management crews are warning that the wildfire is far from being done with the area.

The latest mandatory evacuation called involved residents living north of County Road 305 and F.M. 362.

To the north, the fire runs up to County Road 306 and Texas 105, and from the west of F.M. 362 to the south along County Road 302 and east on F.M. 1774. Many residents have been watching this blaze grow since about 4 p.m. Sunday.

More than 20 fire departments are working on stopping the inferno while four air tankers, a few helicopters, an air attack plane and two military Black Hawk helicopters dump water on it. This morning, officials said a quarter of the blaze was contained, but at mid-afternoon, it had dropped to 10 percent.

No fire-related injuries have been reported, but an incident yesterday involved a man who "was sandwiched between two firefighting apparatuses," according to the College Station-based Texas Forest Service, which has five bulldozers working to extinguish the blaze. It wasn't clear if what condition the man was in or to which hospital he was taken.

The fire was about 25 percent contained, officials said.

The Renaissance Festival grounds initially were set up with two large air-conditioned tents as a site for evacuees to check in and have their needs assessed, but by 3 p.m., that property was at risk. Navasota High School now is established as the headquarters for evacuees. Authorities are asking everyone to stop there and document where they live, how many in a family, etc.

Many area residents fled their homes within an hour of the fast-moving blaze that began about 4 p.m. Sunday near Clark Road in the Plantersville area. Many of the homes consumed by fire were in the area around Whitewall, according to the Texas Forest Service.

Lexi Maxwell, a spokesperson with the Texas Forest Service, said the big concern now is the weather. Winds of up to 20 mph are projected with gusts up to 40 mph, making it easy for the embers to spread the fire event faster across the drought-stricken region.

Authorities late Sunday said a fire that started near Huntsville was spreading toward Madison County. That fire was contained to Walker County and had not spread to Madison County by Monday morning, Madison County Emergency Management Coordinator Shelly Butts.

"It was spreading northerly so there was some concern it would spread (to Madison County)," Butts said.

Butts said three fire departments from Madison County were helping to fight the fire in Walker County Sunday night until early Monday morning. Residents in the county could see the smoke from the fire, but there had been no evacuations

Interstate 45 and Texas 75 in Walker and Madison counties were closed Sunday, but reopened about 8:30 p.m., Colwell said.

A Walker County dispatcher said everyone who had been evacuated in Walker County because of the fire near Huntsville in the areas including Interstate 45 and F.M. 247 Sunday night remained out of their homes Monday morning, but no homes had been damaged. All roads had been reopened except F.M. 2989.

That fire burned 1,000 acres and was 5 percent contained Monday morning, and 163 homes were evacuated, according to the Texas Forest Service.

Critical fire weather conditions were predicted across a large portion of Texas Monday, and the Texas Forest Service reported it responded to 12 new large fires the day before. On Monday, the forest service was responding to 20 fires that have burned 76,042 acres.

Statewide, 222 of 254 counties have burn bans.

http://www.theeagle.com/police/Authorities-continue-to-fight-Grimes-County-fire-

[mpullen]

No sign of smoke on the TRF webcams (at least the ones that are working), so the evacuation may just be precautionary.

Fingers crossed.

[MrHyde]

New Video Link:  http://www.kyte.tv/ch/fox-26-myfoxhoustoncom/raw-video-grimes-county-fire/p=8911&s=1381165

Here is what I can figure from what they are saying is the fire area:



They are still stating the fire is moving West and North East so that is still away from TRF.  We need prayers for rain and NO SHIFT IN THE WIND.  Any shift would threaten Toon Town (as mentioned by Ravic) and TRF.

[Bonny Pearl]

No sign of smoke on the TRF webcams (at least the ones that are working), so the evacuation may just be precautionary.

Fingers crossed.

I'll take precautionary!  Keeping my fingers crossed!

[MrHyde]

mpullen.... no smoke on the camera but if you watch that one tree they sure are having some serious wind out there.  I hope all of those are clouds and not smoke from the fire heading that way.  For those that don't know about the Cam it can be viewed here:

http://www.dragonsquest.com/forums/content.php?117-trfcam

[Bonny Pearl]

kbtx has a live blog set up http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Brazos_Valley_Wildfire_Live_Blog_124203834.html

it is very active

[Rani Zemirah]

My Scally Wag is earnestly casting her own spells to send rain to the fire area.  She's wearing her blue "water dress", and she's made a bracelet of red-orange cloth to symbolize the fire, as a tiny speck against the overwhelming amount of water in the dress...


(sigh)  So far, we've whipped up a few storm clouds here... but hopefully it's just pulling moisture up from the gulf, and will be dropping most of it right where it's needed down there.  Still praying... and singing. 

[Bonny Pearl]

Give Scally a hug and kiss from me and everyone else in thanks! 

[Rani Zemirah]

I most certainly will!  She's very concerned about all of you down there, and about TRF, as well... we both are.  Keep yourselves safe!!!