Monday, April 11, 2011

Oh my goodness ...


Above is a picture of the once-lovely area we just visited this winter!  A church friend from Marfa, Texas emailed Wendell yesterday with the distressing news that a wildfire, started west of Marfa, has swept many miles from there devastating the town of Ft. Davis enroute to the Midland/Odessa area -- all of the way from Marfa to interstate 20!  That is absolutely unbelievable to us!  All occurring since Friday!  (You know, if something this huge had happened in California it would have been all over the news.)

More than 50 homes have been destroyed in Ft. Davis alone, not to mention many country homes along the fire route, countless head of cattle killed, and unknown numbers of dessert critters, too.  Most everyone in Jeff Davis County is without power.  Cell towers have been destroyed.  Businesses burned.

This just breaks my heart.  I loved that area; it is so unbelievably beautiful!  And to go online and watch amateur videos of people driving along roads that we drove just a few short weeks ago, filming charred dessert, is just gut wrenching!  This fire has spread north of Alpine (sparing that town so far) and caused the closure of the main highway between Ft. Stockton to Alpine.  And it is still burning ...  If you have time take a look at a map and you'll see what a HUGE area this fire has covered.  I found lots of info online as well.


I'm praying for the souls in distress in Jeff Davis and Presidio counties in Texas.  I hope you will too.  It's a small world ...

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