Hard to imagine the scope of these fires. The Smokehouse Creek fire has already burned 900,000 acres and there are four more smaller fires going. BTW, 900,000 acres is 1,400 square miles. That's more than 1 1/2 times the size of Duval County. Texas wildfires: Deadly fires torch 1 million acres, destroy thousands of cattle and keep raging out of control | CNN
Think they want federal help? Edit: sure did In response to a request from the State of Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) request for the Smokehouse Creek Fire and Windy Deuce Fire, meaning that Texas will be eligible for 75% reimbursement from the federal government for costs associated with fighting those fires.
Column: More than 20 Texas representatives and senators voted against Sandy aid. How will they vote on Harvey? The representatives, and Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, all voted against a $50.5-billion relief package for victims of 2012’s Superstorm Sandy when it came before them in January 2013. (The measure passed anyway.) Although the shape and size of a relief package for victims of Harvey won’t emerge for at least several months, it’s clear that a big one will be needed. Damage estimates from the storm still pummeling the Gulf Coast around Houston have reached $40 billion, and are likely to rise.
Perhaps the Texas National Guard that have been sent to the border as props for photo ops can be re-assigned to the fire.
Maybe Biden should take a hint from Trump in 2020: “They’re starting again in California. I said, you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests — there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they’re like, like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up. Maybe we’re just going to have to make them pay for it because they don’t listen to us” .
I rated the post "funny" although California actually does use prisoners as firefighter so why not use illegals in Texas. The History of California's Inmate Firefighter Program | Conservation Camp Program | History| Smithsonian Magazine
That's what Europe started doing many years ago that it worked out well for them not nearly as many out of control fires... TDS Lol.
MSN “An energy company based in Minnesota is facing blame for the largest wildfire in Texas history and has been sued by a Texas Panhandle resident, court documents showed. In the lawsuit filed Friday, attorneys for Hemphill County resident Melanie McQuiddy say a wooden utility pole located about a mile north of Stinnett, in Hutchinson County, “broke” and fell Feb. 26, “igniting” the Smokehouse Creek. The wooden utility pole is allegedly owned and operated by Southwestern Public Service Company, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, a publicly traded company based in Minnesota, according to the suit. The suit argued that “gross negligence” from the two companies, along with a third — Osmose Utility Services — that was hired to inspect and report on the utility poles caused the fire.”
Biden gets money to Texas to help with a catastrophe, In contrast trump on west coast wildfires: “He told us to stop giving money to people whose houses had burned down because he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn’t support him,” said former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor. Trump doesn't care if wildfires destroy the west – it didn't vote for him | Robert Reich
