There is a notion that wildfires, as destructive as they are, are at least natural. That they are an unfortunate condition of living in proximity to the uncultivated world.
We’re hoping you can join us tonight at our new studios for a panel and discussion of wildfires in Texas. We’ll be listening to and talking about our recent documentary with KUT News, Forged in Flames: An Oral History of the Labor Day Wildfires. Our own reporter Mose Buchele will be on a panel with KUT […]
If you live in Central Texas, particularly in exurbs abutting woodlands and greenbelts, you’ll want to keep a keen eye out this weekend for wildfires. The National Weather Service is forecasting “gust” winds beginning tomorrow morning and increasing in the afternoon, leading to possible “critical fire weather conditions” for a few hours Saturday afternoon. The […]
Here’s how Labor Day weekend 2011 started for Matt Lara, a musician living in Spicewood, some forty miles outside of Austin. “I was going to town to meet some friends for a beer – just a good Sunday, a day off – and walked outside, and the light in the yard, the sunlight, was just really strange; it was […]
It started as the perfect fall weekend: Breezy, sunny skies, cool temperatures. Then it spawned one of the worst disasters in Central Texas history. More than two thousand homes destroyed, landmarks burned, whole habitats changed forever. The Labor Day Wildfires of 2011 took some lives, uprooted others and changed Central Texas history: from the way […]
Nathan Bernier of KUT News reported this article as part of our special series on the 2011 Labor Day Wildfires with KUT News, Forged in Flames. Today at 3 p.m., KUT 90.5 FM in Austin will air a special one-hour documentary telling the story of the fires. It will air again Wednesday, Sept. 5 at […]
How Texas almost lost the seeds that will be used to reforest the lost pines in Bastrop.
When the Rock House Fire struck Far West Texas in 2011, it didn’t just leave over 300,000 acres of scorched earth in its wake. It also left bones.
During last year’s record-breaking wildfire season, most of the nation’s attention was focused on the massive Bastrop Complex fire that raged throughout September. But in the first days of the wildfires, several others burned out of control. One of those was in Delhi, in Caldwell County, south of Austin. Rick Chafey, a firefighter in McMahan, […]
As the anniversary of the Labor Day fires approaches, we’re beginning to get some answers on what was at fault. As we reported earlier this week, the conditions at the time were the epitome of ‘perfect storm.’ Extreme heat, record drought, high winds and little humidity created a virtual powder keg. Compounding those well-known issues […]
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