(Military resources? What kind of military resources? I found it odd yesterday to personally witness what looked like U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters taking off and landing near the Tahitian Village fires in Bastrop. Does the U.S. military have constitutional authority to take part in firefighting operations on U.S. soil? Clearly, some military transport planes could be very useful right now, but we always have to be careful how much control we hand over to the military in these domestic situations... never forget posse comitatus!)
Also, this just confirmed: Gov. Perry has activated Texas Task Force 1, billed as an "elite search and rescue team," to head to Bastrop County and make sure everyone is accounted for.
Other details on the fire Two fatalities have been reported so far: A young mother and her 18-month-old daughter were killed in Gladewater due to the wildfires there.
Insurance companies have set up "claims camps" with large buses and tents to help the locals get their property claims handled. I personally saw several insurance industry buses on the North side of Highway 71 when we drove through.
85 fires are still burning across Texas. There is a rumor that at least one Texas fire was started by arson (the fire in Leander), but this has not been confirmed.
Local churches have stepped up to provide aid, including the Ascension Catholic Church, Grace Lutheran Church and First Baptist Church.
The winds died down significantly all day Tuesday, greatly slowing the spread of the fires. Low winds are also expected to hold out Wednesday. The severe drought conditions in Texas have made the state a fire tinderbox, and any wind over 5-10 mph could easily cause these fires to spread out of control once again (actually, they're still not even 10% contained, so they're not "in control" at all...)
Rumor report: A DC-10 aircraft that has been retrofitted for firefighting has arrived in Bastrop County, according to reports on a Central Texas news radio station, but the plane will not be operational until Friday because of mandatory government "down time" restrictions on the flight crew. (Gee, is there nobody else who can fly a DC-10 in Texas? There were thousands of these planes in commercial operation over the past three decades... surely somebody can fly this hunk of steel, despite the fact that the hydraulics have no redundancy!)
NaturalNews wants to talk to some volunteer firefighters...
NaturalNews wishes to thank RealNewsReporter for covering this story, and I personally would like to know if anyone can put us in touch with Daniel Miller or other members of the Texas Nationalist Movement who would like to be interviewed about all this to tell the rest of the story. Our offices may be contacted at reply(at symbol)naturalnews.com or visit the Natural News Facebook page and send a private message. We are especially interested in stories of local Texans who are trying to help the situation being sent home or interfered with by federal agencies such as FEMA. We all saw what FEMA did to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and we sure don't need that same "government solution" in Central Texas.
As Rep. Ron Paul has rightly pointed out during numerous interviews, "FEMA to the rescue" isn't always a good thing.
Texas volunteer firefighters buy their own gear! Many of the volunteers currently fighting the wildfires in Texas buy their own gear! Please consider supporting them through the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund.
"Over 77 percent of fire departments in Texas are volunteer departments who struggle daily on getting the equipment they need to respond to emergencies across the state," said Chief Chris Barron, Director of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas (SFFMA). "Eighty-six percent of the state's volunteer firefighters use personal funds for their departments' safety equipment and supply needs."
Other sources for this story can be found here and here.
Cross-posted from Natural News
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