Prayerful Monday afternoon, Allow me to share update summaries today that I have received from a number of sources:
Prayer from the hymn Healer of Our Every Ill: “Healer of our every ill, light of each tomorrow, give us peace beyond our fear, and hope beyond our sorrow. You who know our fears and sadness, grace us with your peace and gladness; Spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts. Amen”
Cash: Financial support to established relief organizations is always the most immediate, useful, and versatile way to give. Financial assistance allows relief organizations to meet urgent needs quickly.
Confirm: If you prefer to donate items instead of providing cash donations, confirm there is a need before collecting or sending donated items.
Connect: Volunteers are a critical part of a well-coordinated and well-resourced humanitarian response, but potential volunteers should not self-deploy and should confirm that they are needed before traveling to impacted areas.
Palo Duro is receiving PayPal donations at our website: www.paloduropresbytery.org
Severe Weather, Wildfire Maps & Update Resources
The Texas A&M Forest Service Incident Viewer is available at: https://public.tfswildfires.com/ *
Additional details are posted in the Texas Fire Potential Update at: https://bit.ly/TexasFirePotentialUpdate.
Please stay current with Texas fuels/fire danger products at https://ticc.tamu.edu/PredictiveServices/default.aspx and local your fire weather forecast at https://www.weather.gov/srh/.
We continue to encourage the public to call 2-1-1, visit www.211texas.org and monitor local media outlets for the identification of resources. Furthermore, it’s important to remind all local organizations offering resources, especially those related to a disaster, to add/update/delete listings https://www.211texas.org/add-or-edit-your-2-1-1-listing/
Wildfire Resources
· Fire Fact Sheets & Safety Tips (Home Fire)
Due to the threat of Critical Fire Weather impacting the State, the State Operations Center (SOC) conducted a coordination call for the State of Texas for severe weather. NWS Weather slides are attached to this email.
The SOC has activated to a Level II – Escalated Response Posture for Texas Wildfires and Winter Weather. Activation began at 8:00 am on 2-28-2024. All ESF’s are activated.
Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties in response to widespread wildfire activity throughout the state. Additional counties may be added if conditions warrant. Governor Abbott also directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to activate additional state emergency response resources to support local firefighters responding to multiple wildfires burning Texas.
Severe Weather:
Fire Weather conditions will be Elevated to Critical for a large portion of West Texas today. While conditions will settle a bit after today… it will remain somewhat breezy and dry across much of West Texas this week. Isolated thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday across the eastern half of the state could become severe – with large hail and/or damaging wind gusts.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) continues an Elevated to Critical Risk of Fire Weather conditions across the northwestern half of Texas for today and this evening.
The SPC has a Marginal risk of severe storms for much of the eastern half of the state for Monday afternoon and into overnight Monday night.
The SPC continues the Marginal risk for Tuesday morning in East Texas as storms may linger there.
An example of the dry conditions in the Panhandle and West Texas.
Summaries:
Fire Weather conditions will be Elevated to Critical for a large portion of West Texas today. While conditions will settle a bit after today… it will remain somewhat breezy and dry across much of West Texas this week.
Isolated thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday across the eastern half of the state could become severe – with large hail and/or damaging wind gusts.
The SPC has a Marginal risk of severe storms for much of the eastern half of the state for Monday afternoon and into overnight Monday night.
Monitoring for Critical Fire Weather.
4 Wildland Fires reported in Region 1.
Magenta Fire 3.3K Acres 90% Containment
Grapevine Creek Fire 30K Acres 60% Containment
Windy Deuce 142K Acres 60% Containment
Smokehouse Creek 1mil+ Acres 15% Containment
Texas Parks and Wildlife – TPWD continues to have Game Wardens and State Park Police officers supporting local officials in areas affected by the wildfires. TPWD has rostered teams to support the town of Fritch and is supporting Tx Task Force 2 in USAR operations.
Texas A&M Forest Service – Wildland firefighting crews are actively engaged in operations in Region 1.
3 Single Engine Tanker Aircraft assigned to Childress
3 Single Engine Tanker Aircraft assigned to Dumas.
2 Large Tanker Aircraft are assigned to Abilene.
16 TIFMIS Strike Teams. 2 TIFMIS Hand Crews.
Additional Teams added across the state to respond to new starts.
1 American Red Cross shelter open in Borger.
Click here to find a map of Seasonal Relief Centers
Wildfire Relief Monetary Donations:
Hutchinson Co.
o Hutchinson County United Way fund at the Amarillo National Bank
Gray County
o City of Pampa
Attn. Finance
PO Box 2499
Pampa, Texas 79066
Hemphill County
For people who lost their home http;//fbccanadian.org/firehelp/
Potter County Agricultural
Checks made payable to Potter Ag.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Attn: Potter Ag.
3301 SE 10, Building 1
Amarillo, Texas 79104
American Red Cross – Providing mobile supply distribution in impacted areas.
The Salvation Army (TSA): TSA Pampa and Borger Service Units are serving first responders and survivors with food, hydration and relief supplies in Carson, Gray, Hutchinson, and Roberts Counties.
TDEM is encouraging Affected Texans to report property damage. Share pertinent details and photos to assist emergency management officials in the preliminary damage assessment process. This does not replace reporting damages to your insurance provider. Click here
Texas A&M Public Works Response Teams has 2 strike teams in Region 1.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality monitoring the weather.
The city of Fritch under a Boil Water Notice.
TCEQ staff is in theater to assist with carcass disposal and debris management operations.
Health and Medical
Department of State Health Services – Emergency Medical Task Force has activated 9 EMTF’s Wildland Support Packages and 2 Extraction Modules activated for Wildland Fire Response. 3 EMTF’s on standby.
EMTF Wildland Fire Support Package Includes:
1 Wildland Paramedic Unit
1 Ambulance
1 Medical Unit Leader
5 Medical Incident Support Team Personnel have been deployed to Region 1.
A MIST Team includes but is not limited to:
TX EMTF Overhead Team staff
Incident command posts & emergency & medical operations center liaisons/support
Wildland fire support
Hospital, nursing home/assisted living center evacuations
Infectious disease response
Mass fatality response, etc.
3 Wildland Fire Packages and 1 Extraction Teams on standby.
Texas Education Agency monitoring the event.
Reports that there has been no damage to school structures in the region.
Texas Animal Health Commission – TAHC is actively coordinating with state veterinarian offices in New Mexico and Oklahoma to facilitate documenting interstate movement for livestock producers.
Four Livestock Inspectors have been rostered along with additional field staff to support surveillance and animal needs assessments in the cities of Canadian and Fritch.
TAHC has begun to distribute animal agriculture focused publications addressing carcass disposal guidance, available state, and federal resources, and AgriLife supply point information.
Animal Supply Point and Animal Shelter:
Gray Co. – Pampa County Fairgrounds
Animal Supply Point and Animal Shelter:
Hutchinson Co. – Borger Airport
Animal Supply Point and Animal Shelter:
Hemphill Co. – Canadian AH&N Ranch Supply
Texas A&M Vet Team are working with Texas A&M Texas Taskforce 1.
Texas Animal Health Commission has 6 staff in Region 1 conducting animal assessments.
2,881 animal agriculture losses documented.
Texas AgriLife Extension – AgriLife agents assisting TAMFS and seven (7) County Extension Agents to undertake damage assessments.
AgriLife is coordinating with 25 personnel and Texas Search and Rescue (TEXSAR) to bring in donation management teams to Pampa, Borger and Canadian Animal Supply Points.
Individuals are encouraged to photograph and document losses for both structural and livestock.
Public Utility Commission is monitoring the event. ERCOT reports available energy to meet demand.
· Public Utility Commission Outage Map – Click Here
· ERCOT Grid and Market Conditions Dashboard – Click Here
Communications
T-Mobile is providing charging stations in Region 1.
Transportation
TxDOT is monitoring the weather.
Dynamic Sign Messaging on Wildland Fires in West, Tx and Panhandle.
Amarillo Crews are working to provide fuel to fire crews and monitoring road closures and driving conditions.
No roads closed due to the event.
On February 29, the Governor granted waivers for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV), and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as Texas continues surging all available resources to support Texans and communities impacted by wildfires across the state.
For road closure information: Click Here
