Contributors to this thread:
Well the fires this year are out of control. I hope and pray people stay safe.
This makes Anderson Creek seem pretty tame. A lot more homes and livestock destroyed in Clark County. Monday was the worst day in Kansas history for fires, by far. May get close to 500,000 acres, or more.
It is just crazy that this many fires broke out all at once. Sad story coming out of Texas about the young couple on horseback trying to herd cattle that were killed.
I worked at Hutchinson ER last night and many of my co-workers left early to get home and try to evacuate their families and pets before the fires got to their homes.
I have two different buddies who lost both of their hunting areas south of Greensburg and Minneola from the fires......One drove south of Minneola and Kingsdown and had cows singed up on the roads and surreal at night with everything burned to the ground amid tiny little "tiki torches" stretched for miles where the fencepost stumps were burning in symmetrical lines in the dark.
It is worse than last year we had crews around Protection and Ashland for last 30 hours.Lots of cattle injured or killed terrain was rougher also.Keep everyone in the areas affected in your prayers
Hope everyone is doing well!! Here in the northeast we don't hear much about them so I went on line and looked them up!! Hope some heavy rains come. Shawn
Boy, feel sorry for the guys who lost hunting places....OK, maybe a little. Toured a ranch today and estimates are over $10 M for fences and dead cattle. This is far worse than last year in Barber County. Many more houses, including some nice ones owned by prominent families. More loss of livestock, and wildlife, too. Friends have done nothing the past two days but go around and shoot maimed cattle, horses, deer, coyotes,..... One pasture I was in today was 76 for 76, and they were high-end breeding stock, most with unborn calves. Never had such a high percentage of people I've interviewed break down into sobs as today. Real men. Real problems. Shawn, we need gentle rains. Heavy rains will lead to unreal erosion. Sand already covering up carcasses. This is a deer in what was knee to waist-high grasses less than a week ago. 100s of 1,000s of acres like this. Surreal.
Writer- Could you post this on the Nat'l forum so the NR realize what has happened? I am surprised at how few people realize the gravity of the situation. I'd hate to see a bunch of NR show up and kill the few deer that are left in those areas
I'm driving up from Amarillo now, sad state of affairs for sure.
Bad deal....remember the fires out by medicine lodge last year....praying for everyone involved
I don't want to sound flippant about the impact to ranchers.....I was just awe-struck when my buddies said "The trees, grass are POOF, gone!" In fact, the very tree I shot my buck out of last year is burned to the ground apparently, and they were the only two trees in the pasture.
One story my friend told me is one of the big ranchers shot cows until they ran out of bullets....kind of like the scene in the Paul Newman movie HUD. Many were half burned and suffering. This particular friend is a parts manager at John Deere and there certainly will be economic impacts for the whole community.
A couple of those giant ranches had in line breeding bulls that would routinely sell for over 100k. Even with insurance payments, maybe it takes another generation to establish the herd genetics again?
That particular friend is in the know with particular ranches being leased and such and one decent sized ranch on Bluff Creek was just leased this winter for 25,000 by a group of Florida guys and it's burned to the ground without a tree one left on the place.
Another interesting note was a worry they had with smoldering trees and brush but with the high winds it was like blowing on a briquette and all that was left was a pile of ash.
One younger rancher I know has about 400 cows and narrowly missed losing them all but there isn't a lot of feed left in the remaining pasture that didn't burn. Apparently, one of big ranches along the Cimmarron also lost 4500 hay bales......incredible stuff:(
Fortunately, we got lucky and the fires in Reno stayed in the pasture just to the east of us. I had some friends in Ashland that lost their house and the majority of their herd. It is a sad state of affairs to say the least.
I talked to a friend this morning that has a friend in Clark County. That person lost 200 head of registered cows. Most of them had a calf. All their farm equipment and out buildings were lost. They had moved the farm equipment to what they thought was a safe place, but it still was lost. Their house was the only thing not lost and it appeared to sit in the most vulnerable spot. All their fences are gone.
There will be families that will be unable to recover financially from this fire. I do not mean to make light of the Reno county fire but the hardships will be much greater in the Clark County area. Most if not all damaged homes will receive insurance payments. There will be a lot of losses that are not covered by insurance in the ranching communities of the Clark County area. Many ranchers do not insure their livestock and fences are most likely not covered.
Thanks Michael, I was just thinking of putting them out!! I hope everyone comes through this ok. I read your other posts and watched the video and it bought a tear to my eyes. It is a shame!! Shawn
Clark county as well as the others should have all received some very welcome rain today..hope not to hard and heavy..
2 1/2", over a two day period of time. Moods have certainly improved.
M
I had 4.3 in my gauge yesterday and it wasn't done.....
Since Sunday morning we have had over 3 and a half, pretty nice.
