look at this link fires map. It gives latitude and longitude, yellow is fires still going from days before whit/grey is contained and red are new
http://tx.dtswildfire.com/two hour old update on Bastrop complex
From KVUE News: New from the TX Forest Service: BASTROP COUNTY COMPLEX, Bastrop County. 33,038 acres. The State Operations Center is reporting 30 percent containment. Most of the forward progress of the fire has stopped, but significant intense burning continues in the interior. Twenty subdivisions remain evacuated. An assessment team has confirmed 785 homes have been destroyed. Two civilians were found dead yesterday as search crews went through the charred subdivisions.
for current info to follow this at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bastrop-County-Weather/188244027909222
Aerial photo taken Monday afternoon. Photo courtesy Fayette County Sgt. Ron Naumann
By Dave Mundy/manager@gonzalescannon.com
Posted September 6, 2011 - 12:51pm
BASTROP — Firefighting-trained volunteers from around the state converged on Bastrop and Smithville Tuesday to lend a hand to the beleaguered local firefighters battling the Bastrop County Complex Fire — only to be sent away as federal officials arrived at the scene and took command, apparently because local officials never made a formal request for volunteers.
“We were at the station getting set up into strike teams, and this guy came up and said that the U.S. Forest Service had ‘assumed control of the situation, and that ‘If you don’t have a vehicle that squirts water, go home,’” said Gordon Greer of Kirbyville, who drove all night Monday to arrive in the town beset by the worst wildfire in Texas history. “You’ve got guys who had driven all night long from Corpus Christi and Brownsville on their own dime, and they turned them away. He was really a (bleep) about it.
“There was a whole line of beige cars that came in this morning, tinted windows and such,” Greer said.
A spokesperson with the U.S. National Interagency Incident Center, Jennifer Jones, confirmed that federal group of several different agencies would be assuming command in Bastrop County around 1 p.m. Tuesday, but had not done so when the firefighting volunteers were told to leave. April Saginor with the Texas Forest Service said her agency had not given any such order, to her knowledge, but promised to provide an update later in the day.
The question is apparently one of protocol, however.
The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management announced via its Facebook account Tuesday afternoon that “Any fire mutual aid requests would always come through (and to) Local, State and National fire service and emergency leadership. This message sent as per Texas Fire Chiefs, TIFMAS, IAFC, USFA and FEMA. If you are a fire fighter wanting to volunteer you have to be activated by the National Forestry Service first.”
The Texas Forest Service issued a statement Tuesday evening that it is not requesting firefighters/retired firefighters to report to Central Texas.
"If a person wants to fight fire they can: 1. Apply for a full-time Texas Forest Service position. We are not hiring seasonals as we currently do not have the time to hire, train and certify them. 2. Join a local fire department. 3. Members of local departments should not self-dispatch. Have your fire chief contact TIFMAS Coordinator Joe Florentino at
jflorentino@littleelm.org"
http://www.gonzalescannon.com/node/6410
