West Texas in Flames

The things we perceive as important can change with the wind, literally.  I started this morning by looking at things I might want to blog about, checking various news stories, and thinking of topics important to me.  I had delayed my decision as to topics until the evening, but when evening rolled around, real events made my choice easy...and hard to write about.

West Texas is on fire at the moment, and firefighters, assisted now by local oil crews, have been fighting fires since early afternoon.  Those of you who are a little familiar with the area may well wonder what there is to be burn out here.  Well, the answer is nothing, and everything.  Nothing...in the sense that there is basically nothing in the Permian Basin but tumbleweeds, tall grass, and mesquite bushes.  And everything, in the sense that there are tumbleweeds, tall grass, and mesquite bushes.  That combination is lethal in the tender box conditions currently in existence in West Texas.  With these sudden and terrible fires comes the sudden shift in priorities.

For one family, the result of the "grass fire" was immediate and tragic.  A car stopped along Interstate 20 in Midland because smoke had covered the Interstate and brought visibility.  That vehicle was immediately struck by three more vehicles, which were then hit by a semi-truck.  Unfortunately a young girl was killed in that accident.  If you think grass fires are minor, this one showed how real the danger can be. 

At the same time as the fire and wreck were happening on Interstate 20, a grass fire was sparked in Andrews County and immediately engulfed several hundred acres, threatening oil rigs and gas production facilities.  That fire is still burning some five hours later.  And just forty miles away, a large fire raged in Big Spring, threatening a large gasoline refinery.  Several homes and buildings have been lost as the fire burns on.  Just south of there, in Forsan, yet another fire is burning, and has consumed at least one ranch house.

Topping all of that, the entire town of Matador has been evacuated as a large and uncontrollable wild fire descended on that city. My heart and my prayers go out to the people of Matador.  And also to the people fighting the fires, as they will be working into the night.

I know a lot of serious things happened in the world in the past twenty-four hours.  The Middle East is in turmoil.  Qaddafi may be on the way out of Libya.  And the "War on Drugs" rages on in Mexico.  But right now, for just a few hours, the most important thing going on is the effort to put out multiple fires before any more lives are lost and more property is destroyed.  West Texas is burning, but in a few more hours the fires will be out, the firefighters will return to their homes, and once again the larger world will overshadow life as we know it in West Texas.