Bastrop is Forever Changed

Our trailer, Mingo II, was put to good, if unexpected, use for the last week or so. 


On Sunday, October 4, 2010, we met Shelly, Blake, Lydia and Grant at a restaurant in Bastrop for lunch and to get the grandkids for a sleepover.  Other than the wind blowing like crazy from the North that day, it seemed like any other day.

We returned to Austin and were shopping to get the grandkids roller skates when Shelly called.  You can always tell when your children call and they are upset, and it was immediately obvious something was dreadfully wrong. 

On their way home, they were stopped at SH21 and FM1441 by a sheer wall of smoke and flames.  Shelly's anguished phone call carried the dread that not only their home, but that Blake's Mother and Father's home and Blake's brother's home, as well as Blake's Brother's Mother-in-Law's homes, were all directly in the middle of what appeared to be an inferno.  Basically, a lot of family residences, all apparently directly in the fire zones. 

Start of the Bastrop Complex Fire;
9/4/11 near Terry's Corner at SH21 / FM 1441

In the picture, you can see Blake standing under the pine tree in the left foreground, trying to call his parents, who live less than a mile from where this picture is taken, and his Brother who live just a mile beyond Blake and Shelly, to see if they were safe and evacuating. Like most areas of Texas, the "Lost Pines" area of Bastrop was tinder dry, with numerous stressed and dead trees due to the extended drought in Central Texas.  Whatever sparked the fire found unlimited amounts of fuel and the strong winds created a disaster.

I don't know who took this photograph, but it was taken early in the afternoon of September 4, 2011 from a high point overlooking Bastrop, traveling East on SH71, looking toward Bastrop.  It provides another powerful visual depiction of the magnitude and scope of the fire. 

With over 1,500 homes destroyed in the fire, the Texas Forest Service has called it one of the worst wildfires in Texas history.

Thankfully, Blake and Shelly's home, as well as the homes of his parents and his brother were spared by the fire.  In Shelly and Blake's neighborhood, however, it appears that 50-80% of the homes were completely destroyed.   There will likely be thousands of stories of heartbreak and triumph from this event. 

One story of triumph relates to their 8-week old kitten "Cue".  They named the kitten that because she had been a rescue cat.  Cue was at home at the time of the fire.  Shelly's next door neighbors, on their way out of the subdivision to escape the flames, took the time to stop at their house and try to see if they could find the kitten.  All the doors were locked, but when they stuck their hand through the cat door in the garage, according to their story, Cue jumped into their hand and was rescued again!  I now call the kitten TwoQue.  A remarkable act of thoughtfulness and kindness in a terribly stressful instant.

So Mingo II became Shelly, Blake, Lydia and Grant's home away from home while they tried to put all the pieces back together and while they waited fort the officials to permit re-entry into their subdivision, and the water and electricity to come back on.  The electricity came back on on Sunday, 9/18, 2011, two weeks to the day after the fire started.  The news today is reporting that the Texas Forest Service is reporting that the cause of the Bastrop Complex Fire was "electrical" in nature.  I'm not sure what that means, but it seems not to point to arson. 

It's so sad to see couples sifting through the ashes of what was once their life.  It's gratifying, however, to see the spirit and resiliency of the folks who were so touched by this tragedy as they start to re-build.  Events like this bring out the best and the worst in society.  One sign which was erected at the entrance to my Daughter and Son-In-Law's subdivision read simply "U Loot - We Shoot."  I can't say that I blame the author. 

The real work for the good folks in Bastrop will come once the media spotlight has moved onto other events, other tragedies, and the residents whose lives were forever changed by this fire have to face the day-to-day reality of putting their lives back in some semblance of order.

There are many ways to help, and a good one is to donate to help the fire victims.  The Red Cross is taking donations, as well as the Bastrop Christian Ministerial Alliance (http://www.bcmatx.org/) which insures that 100% of the donations go to fire victims. Consider donating; cash is always needed in times like these. 

Even if you can't donate, stop and say a little prayer for the folks in Bastrop.