Pedernales 1 Fire: Update from the Pedernales Fire Department

The Pedernales Fire Department posted this about 3 hours ago on their Facebook page:

PFD Firefighters and Fire Departments from Burnett County are working the fire area today. We continue to have flare-ups and small fires, especially in more remote areas. Getting to some of these fires is difficult and our wildland fire equipment, including our brush trucks are taking a real beating. We are accepting donations for replacing and repairing our wildland fire equipment. Send donations to PFD Auxiliary 801 Bee Creek Road, Briarcliff, Texas 78669 All donations are tax deductible. Thank you for your support ... !!!

Today's Update on the Pedernales 1 Fire

The Ped 1 fire has been dropped from today's headlines on YNN; the last update there is from 11 p.m. Monday 9/5, noting that it was back up to 80% containment. No obvious smoke on our horizon this morning, but it's very hazy, so not entirely a reliable indicator.

Yesterday from my front porch I continued to see smoke to the north & north-north-west from 1-3 fires all afternoon into the evening. No orange glows after sundown, though (two thumbs up).

That's all I know for now. Nothing new on the neighborhood group list, either.

Photos of Monday's Ped 1 Fire at/near Reimers Ranch

Taken around 5pm from Stagecoach Ranch Road, looking north

Pedernales 1 Fire: Further Update

The Pedernales 1 (One?) fire is still burning, per the news and the Texas fire map.

Yesterday evening/night, it had spread to at or near Reimers Ranch (news coverage is scant!). The fire originally started on the other side of the river, but it hopped right over it at some point; apparently it is so low and the wind so high that it wasn't a barrier. It seems that it was on Reimers Ranch or next door at Peacock (the giant ranch that abuts both Reimers and our land) that they were finally able to subdue it. Around 5 or so I ran down to Stagecoach Ranch Road (just past Hamilton Pool) to have a look from the high point there; on my way back, the first fire trucks were turning into Reimers.

Part of why the fires have gotten so bad is because there haven't been resources enough to fight all the many, many fires in the state. In many areas they've simply been evacuating people to get them safe. Hence, we're amazed that suddenly so many trucks & people showed up yesterday evening and managed to tame the one at/near Reimers. We're incredibly lucky.

We can still see smoke this morning, but it's further away than yesterday. Right now the fire map shows a flame near West Cypress Bend and another quite close to Hamilton Pool, in addition to the many still around Spicewood and Pace Bend.

So—we were not evacuated, though are cars are still packed with all of our worldly goods, and we're safe at home with an eye to the horizon . . .

Latest on the Pedernales 1 Fire

8 p.m. and we're still not evacuated, though neighbors all around are. And it's looking not so bad—touch wood!—for us, at least. We have heard some reports that the fire is on this side of Reimers Ranch—that is, on the Peacock Ranch side of Reimers—and we see less smoke now, though still plenty of it, and it seems to be moving to the west. Again, good for the Cabin, but we worry about our neighbors to the west. More later, if there's anything to report.

Fire at Paleface Park

Update as of 10:25 a.m. Monday 9/5:

YNN is the best news source I've found so far:
http://austin.ynn.com/
You can also "like" "YNN Austin" on Facebook. Great, steady updates last night.

We didn't get evacuated, but it was a scary night. There's still smoke from the Pedernales 1 fire, as they're calling it, visible from our porch, but much less so than yesterday, as seen below. We had the cats, dogs & valuables packed in the truck & car, ready to go. Hugh & I spent our time hacking down limbs that were touching the house. I finally went to sleep at 3.

My original Sunday post:

Looking due north from our front porch

Paleface is 5 or 6 miles away as the crow flies, though it's about 18 miles by road. Hugh is reading tweets from a guy near the scene who says that though the fire is on the other side of the Pedernales, the river is so low that it's not a barrier to the fire. Winds are HIGH today, and blowing from the north (right toward us, that is). The sky is full of smoke and is alternately weirdly glowing and darker than it should be.

We are irrigating, and we also cleared a bunch of dead plants from the back area earlier, something I've been meaning to do for weeks. Feels good to have it done. Maybe I'll go out front now and sweep up all the dead needles that have fallen from the poor dehydrated giant pine tree that's by our patio. There is so much to do all the time; it's hard to keep up with everything, and we don't! Even if I had no job and did nothing but work outside here all day, every day, I'd never get it all done.


To the west (and up)


Shot from the back of the drive, behind the house; you can see our roof among the foliage on the left












I also dislocated my left big toe earlier and I'm having asthma from the smoke.
What a creepy and effed-up day.

The Fire at Night

Wednesday night, as seen over a hill or two to the east from our front patio. Possibly the scariest thing I've ever seen, but as of Thursday morning it was contained, and now it's out. About 400 acres burned. Approximately 60 homes (80 -100 persons) were evacuated and assisted by the Red Cross, who also provided meal and rehab services to the responders. A total of 30 structures were at one time threatened by the fire, but none were lost. The fire went to 4 alarms, involving 17 different agencies. The fuels involved included light brush and light through heavy timber. Fire activity included some “torching” into the tree canopies. The preliminary cause is believed to be sparks from welding or steel cutting activity. There were three injuries on the fire; 2 firefighters (back and ankle) and 1 civilian (first degree burns).

Here is the amazing list of responding agencies:

Travis Co. ESD – 6 Lake Travis Fire Rescue
North Hays Co. FD
Austin Fire Department
City of Austin (Mobile Command Units CV-1 & RMC-1)
Austin Travis Co. EMS
Star Flight
Travis Co. Sheriff’s Office
Travis Co. Fire Marshal’s Office
Texas Dept, of Public Safety
Travis Co. Parks
US Fish & Wildlife
Texas Forest Service
Travis Co. ESD 8
Travis Co. ESD 3
CE-BAR FD
American Red Cross

Fire Over the Hill

Photo by Hugh. This place is about four miles from us by road, but judging by this photo from the patio, much closer as the crow flies.