Wildfire!!

This afternoon a wildfire kicked up behind our neighborhood. I heard sirens, took a peep outside and saw quite a bit of smoke billowing up from the street directly behind my house. Just as I walked out the front door to investigate, a fire truck flew by and tore around the corner. They set up a few houses down from mine at the corner of our neighborhood. The fire was igniting the brush along the fenceline of the houses. They had to douse the brush and houses with water to keep them from going up in flames.

Here is a photo from my back yard. You can see they set up right around the corner from me:



Here they are wetting down the houses and attempting to put out the brush fire:





Concerned neighbors:



Check out the rainbows:









The wildfire got really big, really fast. It tore down the fenceline consuming brush and tinder dry grass and quickly spread across the field and back towards the elementary school. Luckily the kids were out for the afternoon.





Here the fire officials are discussing their next move:



Fireman moving towards the fire:



The fire got bigger and the smoke thicker:





The brush in this photo is directly behind a house in my neighborhood. You could hear the fire crackling and eating away at the super-dry cedar trees, grass, and shrubbery (fairly nerve racking I might add):



Looking beyond the brush, you can see the fire spreading out into the field that contained some horses. They were awfully panicked and were running in frantic circles and back and forth. Look closely at the photo and you can view the horses through the smoke:



The fire progressed at an alarming rate when the wind kicked up. Note the progression of the smoke to flame in what was about a 60 second interval:











Then in a split second, the fire quickly jumped to a cedar tree and up it went in a whoosh of flames:







At this point, I decided I better back off, because there was no way I could outrun that! Better to let the professionals come in and save the day:









The fire then headed off northwards. The aftermath:









Luckily, all the homes were saved and nobody was hurt. Turns out the fire started directly behind the HEB a few miles up the road. A flicked cigarette I am guessing. Didn't I JUST write a post on how one should not litter, ESPECIALLY cigarettes when it is tinder-dry and we are in an extreme drought? Unbelievable. All it takes is a little spark and before you know it an entire neighborhood, forest, or field or all of the above have gone up in flames.