Texas wildfire still burning with the loss of thousands of cattle

Cattle-Burned-in-Texas-Fire

Important Takeaways:

  • Texas Wildfire Causes ‘Catastrophic Losses’ to Cattle Herds: ‘Farmers & Ranchers Are Losing Everything’
  • The devastating impact of the Texas wildfires is beginning to emerge as the cattle industry braces for historic losses.
  • One of several wildfires raging in the Texas Panhandle has now grown to become the largest in state history.
  • The Smokehouse Creek fire has been burning since Monday and has so far destroyed over one million acres of land in Texas alone.
  • However, emergency crews have made little progress in containing it.
  • It has so far torched the most land than any other recorded wildfire in the history of the state.
  • The same blaze has also destroyed 31,500 acres in Oklahoma, according to CNN.
  • Two people have died so far in the fires.
  • Ranchers have lost thousands of livestock with many more likely to be euthanized.
  • Many homes and other buildings have been lost to the flames, as well.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Smokehouse Creek fire spreads by 150 football fields per minute scorching 850,000 acres leaving burned homes and cattle in its wake

Smokehouse-Creek-fire-map

Important Takeaways:

  • Texas wildfires: 1 dead as more than 1 million acres burn across the state
  • As many as 23 separate wildfires covered more than a million acres across Texas early this morning, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
  • The state’s fire preparedness level was raised to a three, meaning outside help from other agencies, regions or states may be required to battle the blazes
  • The wildfire at Smokehouse Creek is only 3% contained and has covered 850,000 acres — making it bigger than Rhode Island — quickly making it the second-largest blaze in Texas history.
  • Wildfires, having moved east from the Texas Panhandle, were spreading in Oklahoma. At least 12 fires were burning in the state, covering more than 115,000 acres.
  • Conditions ripe for more fires are expected Saturday and Sunday. Heat and high winds — forecast to gust at 20 mph to 35 mph — will likely cause “critical fire weather conditions again,” the National Weather Service in Amarillo said.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Johannesburg building fire leaves at least 73 dead

Johannesburg-Fire

Important Takeaways:

  • As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said
  • A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters, leaving at least 73 people dead early Thursday, emergency services in South Africa’s biggest city said.
  • A witness said he saw people throwing babies out of the burning building in an attempt to save them and that at least one man died when he jumped from a window on the third floor and hit the concrete sidewalk “head first.”
  • Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a 1-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.
  • Mulaudzi, the emergency services spokesperson, said the death toll was likely to increase and more bodies were probably trapped inside the building.
  • The fire took three hours to contain, he said, and firefighters needed time to work through all five floors.

Read the original article by clicking here.

In wake of Maui’s crisis with 2,000 burned homes 111 dead the Emergency Management Chief resigns

Mauis-EMA-Chief-Resigns

Important Takeaways:

  • Maui’s emergency management chief resigns, citing health reasons, a day after he defended sirens’ silence during deadly wildfires
  • The resignation of Maui Emergency Management Agency Administrator Herman Andaya is effective immediately, the county said. His post will be filled “as quickly as possible,” Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said.
  • The wildfires that ignited August 8 have killed at least 111 people – including children – mostly around Lahaina, an economic and cultural hub obliterated by the infernos.
  • And the death toll is expected to rise as searchers – many grieving their own fire losses – keep digging through the charred remains of more than 2,000 burned homes and businesses and “probably still over 1,000” residents remain unaccounted for, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told CNN on Wednesday.
  • Elsewhere on the island, fires are still burning – though they’re mostly contained – as scrutiny mounts over the official wildfire preparations and response, including the role of the local electricity provider and the siren system.
  • As the deadly fires spread, no one tried to activate Maui’s 80-alarm, all-hazard outdoor siren system, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said last week. Andaya on Wednesday was asked whether he regretted not sounding the alarms, which are part of a larger statewide network.
  • “I do not,” he told reporters, adding he’d worried their blares would have sent many residents inland “into the fire.”
  • Hawaiian Electric – the major power company on Maui – also is facing scrutiny for not shutting down power lines when high winds created dangerous fire conditions.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Wildfires south of Athens as heatwave bears down with temperatures at 111

Athens Fire

Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Important Takeaways:

  • Wildfire Near Athens Forces Evacuation of Seaside Resorts
  • A wildfire broke out near Athens on Monday as a heatwave grips the country, firefighters said, with several seaside resorts ordered to evacuate as a precaution.
  • The blaze started in Kouvaras, 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Athens. “It’s a difficult fire, the winds are really strong” with gusts reaching up to 60 kilometres (37 miles) per hour,” said Yannis Artopios, a firefighters’ spokesman.
  • Greece, along with Italy and Spain, has been gripped by a heatwave since last week, with temperatures reaching 44C (111 Fahrenheit) in the center of the country.
  • Seven water-bombing aircraft, four helicopters and 150 firemen backed by 30 colleagues from Romania were fighting the flames on two fronts, local media reported.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Large scale fire at recycling plant in Indiana; Evacuation orders in effect

Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Indiana fire at recycling plant prompts evacuation of more than 2,000 residents
  • More than 2,000 residents were told to evacuate Tuesday afternoon after a large fire broke out at a recycling plant in Indiana, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.
  • The fire broke out in the City of Richmond, which is about 70 miles east of Indianapolis and near Ohio’s western border.
  • Indiana State Police said the blaze was at the former Hoffco factory, which closed in 2009.
  • Wayne County EMA said the evacuation order applied to residents and persons within 0.5 miles of the fire. Those outside that zone were advised to keep windows closed and pets inside.
  • Richmond Mayor Dave Snow described it as a “serious, large-scale fire.”
  • “Many units are on scene,” Snow said. “Please avoid this area if possible, as it is dangerous, and allow our first responders room to get this under control.”
  • “The smoke is definitely toxic,” said the Indiana State Fire Marshall on scene according to Fox 59.
  • “This fire is going to burn for a few days,” he added.
  • No other details were immediately available.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Egg farm catches fire in New Zealand raising tensions of shortages

Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • Fears of worsening egg shortage in New Zealand as fire kills 50,000 hens at farm
  • The fire at a Zeagold farm broke out on Monday morning and had “taken better part of the day to contain”, a spokesperson for the company said. Twelve workers who were on site were “unharmed but very distressed,” the spokesperson said. Work was under way to assess how many hens had died, but Zeagold estimated it to be about 75,000. The company later revised that number down to 50,000.
  • The fire may have ripple effects beyond the immediate demise of the hens, with concerns it may worsen a national scarcity of eggs.
  • The shortage has reached the point of contention: one small-town supermarket banned a cruise ship crew from further egg purchases after they cleared the shelves
  • Before the Zeagolds fire, farmers had estimated they needed to raise another 300,000 hens before the shortage abated.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Can California’s forest and Redwoods grow back?

Luke 21:25-26 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Important Takeaways:

  • The last thread of hope to revive California’s trees is vanishing
  • As it turns out, far more of California’s tree cover is disappearing due to wildfires than from drought or logging.
  • To be clear, wildfires remain a natural part of healthy forest ecosystems across the West, and controlled burns are important tools in forest management. But California has a fire deficit.
  • [In short because more people are moving out the city to the forest the ability to safely do control burns has declined and combing over growth with drought it results in larger more destructive fires]
  • With effective fire management, some Northern California forests might eventually grow back. But in the southern mountains, where forests are dying even without fires because of drought stress, chaparral may replace trees permanently.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Fires, Flooding, Extreme Heat, a year of extremes and it isn’t over yet

Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”

Important Takeaways:

  • As Fires and Flooding Turn Deadly Across the Country, Soaring Temps Raise Fire Risk for Millions
  • At least two people have been killed by wildfires that are devastating parts of northern California.
  • At least 132 homes and buildings have been destroyed in the town of Weed.
  • The nearby Mountain Fire in Siskiyou County has burned through more than 8,400 acres.
  • Searing temperatures in the triple digits from California to Idaho have raised the fire risk for an estimated 50 million people.
  • More than 2,000 miles to the east, it is severe flooding that has turned deadly.
  • An elderly woman’s body was found five miles downstream from her home after flash flooding hit southern Indiana and Kentucky.
  • Up to 14 inches fell in just 24 hours in parts of Tennessee.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Flour Mill in Oregon burns to the ground

Revelations 18:23 ‘For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • Eastern Oregon historic flour mill destroyed in fire
  • The Pendleton Fire Department responded to a report of visible black smoke and quickly extinguished a small fire.
  • Officials say the fire reignited around 4 a.m. Wednesday and the building was soon fully engulfed, because of the amount of dry grain in the mill.
  • Grain Craft officials said no injuries have been reported.
  • Pendleton Fire and eight other agencies responded to the fire. Officials say the building is a total loss.

Read the original article by clicking here.