Fires and High Winds Ravage Area
By: Import User
Updated: April 9, 2009
It has been a firefighters nightmare and one for public utilities as well.
A lot of the grass fires today have been sparked by power lines downed by high winds.
A highwire line arcing against a tree set a wooden roof on fire to a city business this afternoon.
This fire was near the corner of Sayles and Industrial.
There was no damage to the inside of the building.
Also, earlier this afternoon, the staff and guests at the Howard Johnson Hotel got a brief scare as a fire sparked inside the storage area there.
The sparks then caught a pile of leaves aflame outside and started to burn there.
The fire fighters were able to control the flames and clear the area, and there was no major damage done to the hotel.
A fire truck collided with a pickup in Jones County.
A brush truck was rushing to the scene of the blaze when it slammed into a truck.
This happened off Country Road 486.
Smoke from the fire caused visibility problems which likely caused the accident.
An Anson firefighter and the driver of the truck were sent to hospitals.
The fires have been especially bad in the rural areas where there's a build-up of fuel for those fires and very little water.
It was day for students at Clyde Intermediate and High School.
According to a few students, right around lunch time the fire started up near the school, forcing the students and faculty to evacuate the building for safety.
After some time passed, the school bused students to First Baptist in Clyde, and these students say it was wild to see the fire so close.
While everything has calmed down here, it has a lot of fire departments on alert.
Fire crews in Eula have also been getting a lot of calls about fires re-kindling from Tuesday's fire.
Although they say at this time, the fires are rekindling because of the wind but they are not growing or spreading.
The west Texas wind made for some dangerous situations this afternoon when it tore down a power line.
This was on Southwest Drive near the Lithia Toyota dealership.
It appears that the wind blew at least one line down and others appeared to be very loose between the poles.
Texdot was busy today cleaning up the Winters Freeway after a large billboard near Las Brisas apartment complex blew down and across the freeway.
They had to hook the sign to a truck to pull it off the roadway.
