Winter Wildfire Wasteland

The Ugly Truth of Fire

Fire is relentless. It knows no bounds. Our episode from last March on the Maui Fires still has us thinking about the power and nature of fire damage.

On this episode, we are going to explore the massive, nearly simultaneous wildfires in 3 states that began on February 26, 2024.

Nebraska

From Region 26 Management

Oklahoma

Smokehouse Creek, Windy Deuce and Grape Vine Creek Fires
March 1, 2024

Smokehouse Creek Fire
Current Size: 1,075,000 Acres
Current Containment: 15%
Location: Origin 1 mile N. of Stinnett, TX
Start Date: February 26, 2024
Cause: Under Investigation
Resources Assigned:
Total personnel: 108
Engines: 29
Dozers: 7

Windy Deuce Fire
Current Size: 142,000 Acres
Current Containment: 55%
Location: Masterson to Fritch City, TX
Start Date: February 26, 2024
Cause: Under Investigation
Resources Assigned:
Total personnel: 34
Engines: 7
Dozers: 2

Grape Vine Creek Fire
Current Size: 30,000 acres
Current Containment: 60%
Location: SW and East of Lefors, TX
Start Date: February 26, 2024
Cause: Under Investigation
Resources Assigned:
Total Personnel: 1 Branch Director

The Southern Area Blue, Complex Incident Management Team, will assist in Unified Command with Texas A&M Forest Service, National Park Service and impacted County Judges, in managing the Smokehouse Creek, Windy Deuce and Grape Vine Creek Fires beginning at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, March 1, 2024.

Smokehouse Creek Fire: Engine crews will continue to strengthen control lines and mop-up along the perimeter of the fire. Seven dozers will assist ground personnel and continue to construct fire lines where needed. Primary efforts are holding the lines on the north perimeter of the fire as southwest winds may push any growth to the northeast.

Windy Deuce Fire: Dozer and engine crews are continuing to construct and strengthen lines along the perimeter of the fire, mopping up hot spots near the lines.

Grape Vine Creek Fire: This fire is unstaffed but has a branch director assigned, and monitoring is continuing. Suppression resources moved north to help on the Smokehouse Creek fire but are available to respond to this incident if needed.

WEATHER and FIRE BEHAVIOR:

A drying trend will dissipate the traces of snowfall from Thursday. High temperatures in the lower 70s with winds from the SW ranging 10-20 mph. Relative humidity will drop into the mid-teens. Fire has the potential to move at 1-2 mph and burn 250 to 500 acres an hour if a spot fire occurs. These conditions will set up a Fire Weather Watch starting at noon on Saturday. Weekend winds
will be strong with gusting up to 40 mph. Low Relative Humidity over the weekend will range from 9-11 percent with temps rising to the mid-70s.

MAJOR CLOSURES:

No road closures are in place at this time. Please contact the local sheriffs’ websites for the most current roads update.

BURN BANS:

Please use the following link to see which Texas counties have burn bans:
https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/TexasBurnBans/

***NEW***

FIRE INFORMATION LINE: (806) 370-2179 (8 a.m.-8 p.m.)

Email: 2024.TexasPanhandle@firenet.gov

Inciweb:

Smokehouse Creek: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incidentinformation/txtxs-smokehouse-creek-fire

Windy Deuce:
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/txtxs-windy-deuce-fire

Grape Vine Creek: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/txtxs-grape-vinecreek-fire

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllHazardsTFS

🎥: Trucks hauling in hay feed for cattle to replace feedstock lost in the Smokehouse Creek Fire. Video by Kari Hines, Texas A&M Forest Service.

Texas

From Live Storm Chasers

Family evacuating – Took an hour to go 15 miles. They live in Briscoe, which is between Wheeler and Canadian, Texas!

This was about 30 minutes ago.

Wheeler and Shamrock have voluntary evacuation orders.

Family was heading south just to wherever they could make it.

Permission: Taylor Reeder

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Friday Oct 23 2026 - Scanner News - Panhandle Scanner News

Missing Persons is a mission we take very seriously. If you need help finding a missing or runaway juvenile, please contact Panhandle Scanner. A missing 15-year-old boy from Morrill was reported who had been missing since 6.30 p.m. Wednesday night. Good news, Brayden has been found! Well, yesterday, J.D. Vance, the Vice President of the United States, was in North Platte, Nebraska talking about agricultural business possibilities. We'll have more on that as it develops. A large response was seen Wednesday night on Highway 71 south of Gering on the highway near Robidoux Road. Scanner traffic indicated that a 67-year-old male had experienced a medical incident and crashed into a power pole near Highway 71 in Robidoux Road just south of Gering on Wednesday. Further traffic indicated airbag deployment and, fortunately, no injuries on the way to Regional West. Last night, a traffic stop occurred around 4th Avenue and East Overland in Scotts Bluff that involved the Nebraska State Patrol assisting. In the end, one male was 10-15, or under arrest, and booked into the Scotts Bluff County Detention Center. Late last night, scanner traffic indicated a trooper sideswiped a deer and possibly damaged his cruiser. A second unit was requested. The weather is getting colder, and the coffee is hot, so let's get all the best coffee businesses on a map. If your business is related to coffee in some way or another, and you are located in the Wyobraska region, sign up on Panhandlescanner.com to put your business on the map. Once we have enough participation to make a nice printed map, we'll print it and distribute it around the Panhandle. In the meantime, we'll publish it as an interactive online map for immediate exposure. Check it out on Panhandlescanner.com. That's going to do it for today's scanner news. Thanks again for listening, and may God bless. I'm Brian Hale. Photo by SB Rural Fire; Dario Santos, Winner - Chili Cook-Off

Changed By The Unchanging One (Making Change) Day 5 of 5 - Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon Like many kids, I used to imagine that adulthood was a goal and maturity was a given. But now that I’ve been an adult for a while (a long while!), I’ve learned that maturity is not automatic, but must be cultivated. The word used in the New Testament for maturity is teleios, a common word that means finished, complete, or fully grown. It describes the purpose and shape of a Jesus follower’s journey with Him. It is not the name of its destination. “ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7 ESV Paul’s words to his friends in the church in Colossae emphasize the importance of growing through challenges and trials. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the resurrected Jesus had brought radical change to those who were a part of this early church community. In addition to the stunning reality of radically changed lives, the church in Colossae was also dealing with the temptations to follow false teachers and the trials brought on by waves of persecution. Paul’s deepest desire for them – and us –was that we would plunge our roots deeply into Christ so we would not be swayed by our changing circumstances. He prayed our lives would be marked by gratitude – not as a performance, but as the overflow of our journey toward maturity in his company. Even when our circumstances turn our expectations upside down and inside out, the God who loves us perfectly is at work cultivating maturity in our lives. Prayer: When change threatens to uproot me, Lord, I ask that you help me to stay rooted and growing in maturity. Help me to trust you today. I thank you that in this always changing world, you never change. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

Radical Pruning (Making Change) Day 4 of 5 - Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon When I learned that my hairdresser was a hobbyist hibiscus breeder, I told him about the three neglected old hibiscus bushes that were on the property of our new home. The skeletal plants were nearly leafless, and I figured I’d need to dig them up and replace them. He urged me instead to lop off about two-thirds of their branches. “It might look like you killed them. Fertilize them well and watch what happens.” He was right. It did look like I killed them after I first gave them a serious haircut with the hedge clippers. Sprinkling fertilizer around the base of the woody, shorn stumps seemed an exercise in futility. But within a few months, the trio of bushes were covered in green leaves and saucer-sized blooms. When it seems as though our lives are undergoing radical pruning, all we can see are the places where good and promising things once existed. Pastor Warren Wiersbe said, “Your heavenly Father is never nearer to you than when He is pruning you.” Pruning is rarely pleasant, nor is it instantly beautiful or fruitful. It hurts. “ I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ” John 15:1-2 ESV We can trust that our Master Gardener is near, cultivating his goodness from the places in our lives that he’s currently pruning. But if your trust seems as sparse and barren as the branches on a blunt stub of a hibiscus bush after its been pruned, say so. Crying out for God’s help itself is an expression of trust, and is the place where new life and fresh growth begins. Prayer: Father, the pruning that accompanies changes in my life is painful and confusing. I thought those areas were fruitful, and I’ll confess that I don’t understand why you’re doing what you’re doing right now. Please help me to discover you are near. I pray these things in the name of the one who is God-with-us, your Son Jesus.

Lost in New Territory (Making Change) Day 3 of 5 - Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon In the days before readily available GPS navigation on our cell phones, I told my kids we’d be taking a quick run to the post office in our new town. A glance at the map told me the address was directly at the center of a spaghetti-bowl of hilly one-way streets. I was a veteran big city driver and figured the small suburban downtown area wouldn’t be a major challenge. After more than a half hour of driving in circles around that up-and-down tangle of streets, stopping to ask for directions twice, I gave up and returned home. I never found the post office that day, though later I discovered I’d driven by it several times. I relied on my earlier experience as a city driver to help me navigate my strange new location. That experience actually got in the way of me being able to make sense of what my eyes were seeing that day. I was so disoriented that after a while, I forgot what I was searching for. Understandably, we’re prone to rely on our previous experience to navigate change in our lives. While that previous experience may be of value, it can also hinder us from being able to assess and respond to what is happening right now. We need a guide who knows the terrain, especially when it is uncharted territory for us. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ” John 10:27 ESV In John 10, Jesus told his followers that there would be unhelpful or destructive people presenting themselves as caring guides who would lead them astray. He urged his followers to learn to listen to his voice. We can do that by engaging in regular Bible reading so we can learn to discern who God is and what he says, and by simple, conversational prayer. He will guide us step by step, even when it seems as though we are traveling without a map. Prayer: Good Shepherd Jesus, I am disoriented by this strange new place in which I find myself. Please protect me from the other voices who are not guiding me in the way I should travel. Please help me hear your voice clearly and follow you faithfully.

The Ache of Change (Making Change) Day 2 of 5 - Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon When I was fired from a job I’d fought hard to keep, a friend reminded me that I should be prepared for grief to present itself as I processed the loss. And she was right. I spent some time telling myself it was all for the best. I found myself dealing with eruptions of frustration and anger as I replayed months of difficult inter-office politics where it seemed I lost too many hyper-political interoffice skirmishes with a difficult coworker. I grew depressed, and days of initial shock became weeks blanketed by a wooly, gray emotional fog. The rejections I received as I dutifully searched for a new job amplified my sadness. While a job loss might be an easily-identifiable source of grief, I have discovered that every change – even a welcome one – carries with it some form of grief. For example, when a young adult child marries, you may love the partner they’ve chosen, and be overjoyed about the new family they’re forming, but find yourself unexpectedly aching with nostalgia as you come to terms with the reality that you’ve come to the end of an era in your family’s story. For more than 10 years, I have walked alongside many who are moving into midlife. Many are caught off guard by the endings that often come at this time of life – empty nest, career shifts, changes in family life and status. It has been a privilege to help others recognize that our souls process change in much the same way we experience grief. “ Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.” Job 13:15 ESV When Job dealt with a breathtaking pile-up of loss, his confession of hope in God contained a frank acknowledgement that he was actively grieving all the ways his life had changed. Reflect today on how changes you’ve experienced recently have elicited some form of grief response in your soul. These responses can include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Prayer: Unchanging Father, as I navigate this time of transition in my life, I am grieving a past I can not reclaim. Kindle within me a spark of hope as I continue to process these changes. I ask this in the name of your always faithful Son, Jesus.

The Whole Truth (Making Change) Day 1 of 5 - Elevate Your Day with Andi and Brian Hale

From Making Change by Michelle Van Loon “I’m so sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis. How are you holding up?” I was grateful to have a moment of conversation with Tonya, a popular leader at church. Tonya smiled a 1000-watt smile. “Praise the Lord! God is good!” She then told me about how she’d had an opportunity to share her faith with a radiologist tech at the hospital earlier that week. I’d recently received a different, serious medical diagnosis, and had not responded with a 1000-watt smile like Tonya had. Frankly, I didn’t feel amazing. I’d logged some long, sleepless nights wrestling with God about what my future held and walked away from the conversation with Tonya wondering if there was something deficient in my faith. While each of us responds to bad news differently, God is not looking for a spiritual performance from any of us. This is the antithesis of what God already knows is true about us. 2 Samuel 11-12 details King David’s sin against God, Bathsheba, her husband Uriah, and his people. Psalm 51 captures his prayer of confession. It also offers us a reminder that to stay connected to God in relationship, He requires complete honesty from us. “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” Psalm 51:6 ESV These words were spoken in the context of confession of sin, but they apply just as powerfully to every aspect of our lives. When we face the challenge of unwelcome change in the form of a scary diagnosis, a lost job, broken relationship, or anything that sends our lives in a difficult new direction, it takes real faith to tell the truth. If you are brimming with trust, rest in that confidence. And if you are shaken and shaky, offer yourself just as you are to God, and know that the truth is all he asks of you in that moment – and every moment. Prayer: Lord, in this time of challenge in my life, I am disoriented and afraid. And by speaking that truth to you about myself, I recognize that I am taking a step toward learning to trust you as I am now in this difficult place. Please help me to grow in that trust, I pray, in the name of the One who made me and knows me better than I know myself.