Texas wild fire got my barn and airplane parts

[SPANNERmkV]

Did the Beech 18 Cowlings get toasted?

While they weren't airworthy there was enough to paint some nose art on.

Sorry to hear about this.

SPANNER

[carlisle1926]

The Beech cowlings were at home with me in Houston. I'm converting one of them into a big chair. I still appreciate those cowlings.
I had a few DC 3 cowlings, elevators, a rudder, a Continental 7cyl radial engine, some BT13 fuselage parts and a mound of other neat stuff that I had packed ratted out in the woods so that no one could find and steal them. Oh well. I had several radial engine cases in the barn that turned to liquid too.
Jason

[GARY HILTON]

So sorry for your loss, and your fellow Texans' as well. Fires really do suck, I lost almost all in a house fire once...that's too much for anyone. Glad to hear that you and your family are safe.
G.

[carlisle1926]

Thank you Gary. I'm envious of the Lodestar you hauled away! I wish i could have been there to see the look on faces as you drove down the road with it.

[exhaustgases]

Wow, thats horrible. Very sorry about your loss.

[ZRX61]

Saw a post on Jalopnik yesterday about a guy in Texas who just lost his collection of 150 cars...

[airnutz]

Bummer! At least you and yours are safe! The L-29, she kept on giving...right down to art and ingot.

[RickH]

NO! The car museum outside of Bastrop was burned ? ! There was a rare picnic Rolls Royce there with a wicker body. I believe it was built just after WWI or the early 20s.

[ZRX61]

NO! The car museum outside of Bastrop was burned ? ! There was a rare picnic Rolls Royce there with a wicker body. I believe it was built just after WWI or the early 20s.

Just looked for the link, it was 175 cars:

http://jalopnik.com/5837816/texas-fires ... assic-cars

[RickH]

The DC-10 finally started doing drops today, just north of Houston.

[Canso42]

Jason, I'm glad you and your family are safe. We've been smelling the Magnolia fire here for a week now. A co worker who's a firefighter at that scene told me of a volunteer crew who did not heed instructions to "MOVE YOUR SIX NOW!" ahead of a drop and got hosed with pink slurpie. Two pink firefighters, a pink fire truck with pink interior.....
On 'What airplane did you see flying today' I posted the link to a video of two Canadair CL-215s tanking from Travis. I was afraid they'd scoop gravel or tag a half submerged stolen car. They're still running the R-2800's instead of the turb-whine conversion and man do they sound good!
hang in there
Doug Ratchford,
Brenham, Tx.

[carlisle1926]

One of the fire fighters that got covered in the nasty stuff is a guy I went to high school with of all things.

[Iclo]

Just a question:
Are there rules in the US about preventive clearing work against fire ?
Honnestly, I'm a bit surprised by the number of destroyed house in the recent fire...

[Canso42]

I just saw the headline in my local paper declaring that a DC-10 and four Herkybirds ...".are now indefinitely stationed in Texas to fight wildfires." This from the head kahuna of the US Forest Service.
They will be based at Austin Bergstrom Airport for the forseeable future while the fire danger remains high, according to Congressman Michael McCaul's office.
Without jumping on too big of a soapbox, It's about flipping time. A firefighter in Waller County told McCaul that the DC-10's appearance was like "the cavalry coming in." I watched it make a drop on todays noon news and man, stuff just KEPT coming out.

Oh yeah, Jason, ask your pink friend if they got the Forest service truck clean.....


all this from "Staff and Wire Reports"

[51fixer]

Just a question:
Are there rules in the US about preventive clearing work against fire ?
Honnestly, I'm a bit surprised by the number of destroyed house in the recent fire...

Some areas of this country you need special permission to remove trees as they are protected and approval and permits are required.
It varies across the country.
These fires can blow burning embers for thousands of feet in many directions so clearing brush is important but won't always stop the spread.
When I was in grade school ash fell on the school yard from a gigantic fire 20 - 25 miles away.
When I lived in Southern Calif I drove down I-15 to my home from work at Chino Airport. There was a fire off in the horizon maybe a couple miles.
I turned around at home after a phone call to help out some friends and 5 minutes later I drove the opposite direction on the same stretch of I-15 and the fire was approaching the divided highway, 2 lanes each direction maybe each road 40+ feet of asphalt and 50 feet median, and the fire jumped the road just in front of us and I drove through with fire on each side that appeared to join above us a ways up as we drove through. I was in a soft top Jeep but it was clear air at that point and I was doing probably 70 MPH.
So fires take on a life of their own and are very difficult to contain or control given the right conditions.