Sunday, April 10, 2011

Fort Davis Fire Update

NEW:  8pm.  Marfa Public Radio is on the air broadcasting at 93.5 FM and still online (http://www.marfapublicradio.org/) providing GREAT area fire coverage!

The Indian Lodge in Davis Mountains State Park is safe, but closed.

Want to help?  Big Bend Now has published a good list. 

NEW:  Marfa Public Radio published a list at 7pm of area hotels offering homeless Fort Davis residents shelter.  Next time you plan a vacation to the region, please consider booking a room with these generous hoteliers.  The Paisano in Marfa; Thunderbird in Marfa; El Cosmico in Marfa; Marfa Guest Quarters; Eve’s Garden in Marathon; Antelope Lodge in Alpine; Highland Inn in Alpine.

7:30 pm http://www.marfapublicradio.org/ announcing Hwy 67 N from Alpine to Fort Stockton in closed, along with 17 N From Fort Davis to Balmorhea, 17 S from Fort Davis to Marfa, and Hwy 118 between Alpine and Fort Davis.

NEW:  Marfa Public Radio had an eyewitness account indicated Hwy 118 between Alpine and Fort Davis was closed.  Fire seen near Mitre Peak and the Girl Scout Camp  http://www.marfapublicradio.org/

New:  (4:50 pm:  Hwy 67 between Alpine and Fort Stockton closed due to active fire.  Report on http://www.marfapublicradio.org/  Hwy 17 north between Fort Davis and Balmorhea remains closed.

New:  Authorities are asking non-Fort Davis residents to stay away for now.  They are receiving lots of support from fire control crews and need room to do their work.  We are also hearing Prude Ranch is fine.

New:  NewWest 9 reports that Fort Davis National Historic Site and McDonald Observatory are undamaged by fire.

We wanted to share what we know about fire damage in the Fort Davis area.  Credible, eye-witness reports tell us there will be no power in Fort Davis for 4-5 days and...

The Jeff Davis County Courthouse was untouched.

Davis Mountains State Park did get some fire, but no buildings were affected.

Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute had some burning on their land, but their buildings were not affected.

McDonald Observatory is fine, and housed evacuees last night.

A benefit concert is in the works.  "Like" this page on Facebook for developments.

http://www.bigbendnow.com/ and http://www.marfapublicradio.org/ have been tireless in reporting about the fire.

Our main website, http://www.texasmountaintrail.com/ does not appear to be working correctly this morning.  This is completely unrelated to the fire disaster in the region.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you for the update

Anonymous said...

We were in the state park when it was evacuated. The fire was burning over the east scenic overlook mountain. That was about 5 pm on Saturday.

Anonymous said...

I was camping there and noticed the smoke in mid-afternoon. The park people told us to be prepared to evacuate...Oddly, I took a trip to the top of the ridge overlooking the valley just that morning...late in the afternoon though, as we were being evacuated, I saw the fire running along the ridge where I was earlier that morning. The fire came in very fast from over 20 miles away! Highway patrol and park rangers came in and told us to get out...NOW! So we packed up and left. It was so smoky during the evacuation that they blocked off the road to town and all evacuees had to depart north on 118toward the McDonald Observatory only.

Anonymous said...

Beth,
Thank you for the updates. Keep us posted.

Millicans said...

This is the only place we have seen any information regarding the historic fort and the state park--some of our favorite places. Thanks for posting this info!

1avondiva said...

Please keep your updates going. My parents live there and this is the only way I know how things are since their phones are not working.
thank you

Unknown said...

Thank you 1AvonDiva! Marfa Public Radio continues to be a great source of information on the fires and the recovery and you can listen online too: www.marfapublicradio.org. We are also posting updates on the Texas Mountain Trail facebook page: www.facebook.com/TexasMountainTrail

Hope all is well with your family!
Beth