Tag Archives: fire

U.S.

Finally, Texans are wondering where their Christian governor Rick Perry has gone to, while they burn in hell

September 9, some Texans yelled at Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst when he visited hard hit Bastrop County, asking where Perry is and why they haven’t had any help!

Why ‘christian’ Rick Perry is out campaigning for President of the United States, don’t they know?

Nearly 1,400 homes have been destroyed by fire in Bastrop County alone.

Perry did issue a response through his office: “…everything that needs to be done to respond to these fires is being done.”

Do we really want Rick Perry as President of the United States?

Business/Economics, U.S.

Christian governor Rick Perry slashed and burned funding for Texas firefighters to save money, now Texas is buring to the ground at a cost of $5 billion+!

Texans are suffering the worst fires in Texas history.  Did you know that Governor Rick Perry slashed the state firefighting budget by 75%?

Earlier in 2011 Perry said he was planning on slashing funding for the volunteer fire department from $30 million down to $7 million!  Back in May, Forest Service Director Tom Boggus told Reuters that volunteer programs were the number one defense against wild fires.  Despite this, the Texas Forest Service is expected to see $34 million in cuts over the next two years, no thanks to Rick Perry.

Rick Perry recently tried to blame Obama for lack of funding for Texas firefighters: “It is not only the obligation of the federal government, but its responsibility under law to help its citizens in times of emergency.”

Perry’s cronies say their cuts are necessary to save money: “We understand the difficulty they have had in dealing with almost unprecedented numbers of fires this year. We also understand that in order to balance the budget, everybody needs to endure some reductions.”-Talmadge Heflin, Center for Fiscal Policy/Texas Public Policy Foundation

But get this, the ‘savings’ in cuts to Texas firefighting services have been totally negated by the cost of this year’s ongoing fires.   So far damages are estimated to be $5 billion, and counting!

And yet the historic fires of Texas aren’t enough to stop ‘christian’ Rick Perry from campaigning for President of the United States!

Idaho

Grass fire sets Idaho junk yard on fire, fears of propane and liquid oxygen tanks exploding results in blocked roads

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Initial reports say that a grass fire on U.S. Highway 30 (Old Bannock Highway) near the Hoku plant, and the malting plant, in Bannock County, Idaho, caused a massive junk yard fire.  Fortunately the wind was blowing the flames away from the gas company.

Walt’s Auto Salvage fire, July 26, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

The salvage yard is run by Walt’s.  Law enforcement blocked off several roads, because a gas company, Ameri Gas, is located right next to the salvage yard. They deal in liquid oxygen and propane.

WAS fire, U.S. Highway 30, Bannock County, July 26, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By 14:30 (2:30 PM) about 45 vehicles in the yard were on fire. The fire was brought under control around 15:00 (3:00 PM), thanks to the massive response by local fire fighters.  Some witnesses say the junk yard fire started after one or more propane tanks exploded.

 

Business/Economics, International

As oil prices go down, Canadian oil production hit by disaster after disaster

“The wildfire situation in Alberta remains extreme.”-Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta

The wildfires in Alberta, Canada, are not only destroying homes, and even towns, but oil fields as well.  The fires are adding to already damaged oil production in Canada.

This year, most oil producers in Canada are dealing with clean ups of major oil spills (ignored by main stream media) and explosions of sand oil fields (also ignored by main stream media).  On top of that, and the fires in Alberta, some oil fields are under water because of flooding in Manitoba.

Oil producer Penn West says their oil production is down by 40,000 barrels per day, and that’s before the fires shut down their operation in Alberta.

The Rainbow pipeline (run by Plains All American Pipeline LP) in Alberta, is closed because of a massive oil spill earlier this year, but clean up of the spill is halted because of the wildfires.  How long will the wildfires go once they hit the oil?

Reuters reported that at least half a dozen Canadian pipelines developed leaks this year.  This is either a case of shoddy maintenance by Canadian companies, or sabotage.

The result of the explosions, pipeline spills, flooding and now fires, is causing several Canadian refiners to shut down.  Operators of the Pelican Lake plant say they will have to shut down if they don’t get oil soon.  The Marten Mountain plant is already shut down.

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Obama ignores pleas for help from Texas Governor, FEMA out of money

“If you hit Houston with a Category 4 or 5 (hurricane), and we’ve only got a couple billion dollars in the rainy day fund, instead of going in and rebuilding and recovering, we’re talking about bankruptcy. That’s the choice that we have here.”- Rick Perry, Governor of Texas

Texas Governor Rick Perry asked President Obama for help, two weeks ago, in fighting the biggest fires in Texas history.  Obama has not responded.

FEMA is still trying to reply to the request for help from Texas.  The problem? No money!  Rachel Racusen, FEMA spokeswoman, says they’ve approved 22 grants to help local firefighting agencies, by there’s no money to fund the grants.

Maybe FEMA would have the money if our government wasn’t so happy with spending it on wars?

 

Idaho, U.S.

Firefighters from Yellowstone & Gallatin heading to Texas

Four firefighters from Yellowstone National Park and Gallatin National Forest were sent to help fight the fires in Texas.

The ‘Pipeline’ wildfire, one of many in Texas, is burning on the Big Thicket National Preserve.  The local firefighters were sent in because of a inter-agency request.  Officials believe the ‘Pipeline’ fire was started by people.

 

U.S.

Fire and Ice in Texas

Fire fighters in one part of Texas are reporting a strange phenomenon in their battle to control wildfires: ‘Ice capping’.

70 miles west of Fort Worth, embers from the fires have gone so high into the atmosphere that they’ve frozen and fallen back to the ground.  It’s an indicator of how hot the fires are, for embers to go that high.

The fires continue, out of control, homes burning.  One family, in the city of Austin, returned from a weekend trip to find their home, and their pet gone.  What makes it worse is they say their home was the only one on their street that burned: “All the other houses got saved except ours … we’re just kind of speechless right now.”-Kris Griffin