6A
Friday, February 23, 1996
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NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Texas tinderbox blazes
The Associated Press
POOLVILLE, Texas — Linda Dixon stood ankle-deep in the ashes looking for bits and pieces of her life. She wasn't having much luck.
"There's nothing left. Nothing." she said, her face ruddy and covered with soot from digging in 90-degree heat.
Dixon's small wood frame ranch house was one of 65 homes destroyed by raging grass fires that continued to spread yesterday in Parker and Wise counties in north Texas. Fires were fueled by gusty winds and grass so dry from drought that it cracked beneath feet.
By the time firefighters had about 70 percent of the flames contained yesterday afternoon, 16,000 acres had burned.
Knight-Ridder Tribune
The grass fire near Poolville, 35 miles northwest of Fort Worth, injured at least 49 people. Another 90 buildings and an equal number of vehicles also were destroyed or damaged, said Joe Clement, representative of the Texas Department of Safety.
As of yesterday, almost 300 sepa
Unseasonably hot, windy and tinder-dry weather has been feeding fires across Texas. Gov. George W. Bush asked for a federal disaster declaration for the entire state. Officials instituted a ban on outdoor burning across about a fourth of the state.
rate fires had consumed more than 79,000 state-wide acres in the first seven weeks of 1996.
For every five reported, eight more unreported fires were dealt with locally, said Jo Schweikhard Moss, state emergency management representative.
Dixon, with her ranches on a small spread with her husband and 3-year-old son, said they lost their home in a minute of minutes on Wednesday.
"I had the hose going," she said, wiping the sweat from her face with her blackened work gloves. "We thought we were OK, but the wind shifted, stopped and changed direction on us. It was here just like that."
the corrugated tin roof, which lay over a smoking heap of ashes.
"The clothes on my back are all that I have. But it's just things — we'll be all right," she said.
Bush, who flew over Parker County to assess the damage, made state workers, National Guard helicopters and heavy equipment available to fight the blaze.
He also mobilized a newly created firefighting task force to battle grass fires in Parker, Jack and Wise counties.
Helicopters dangling huge containers roared across the sky in frantic sorties to nearby ponds for water to quench the flames. Tanker planes swooped in dropping bright pink fire retardant.
"We're pouring manpower and equipment as best as we possibly can to contain these fires," Bush said, adding that the state was spending between $300,000 and $400,000 daily on the effort.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency donated federal staff and equipment as well as the potential for financial aid to Texas, but no decision had been made on the request for an emergency disaster declaration.
"Our emphasis right now is on the immediate situation in Poolsville," said Dell Greer of FEMA's regional office in Denton.
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Men arrested after throwing cocaine from car window
The Associated Press
Joe Wilson, 23, and Valerio Azrate, 28, were caught yesterday after getting tied up in traffic. They were booked for investigation of cocaine
WALNUT PARK, Calif. — Two men speeding away from a traffic stop threw cocaine out the windows of their car by the handful, dusting several blocks before officers caught up to them, authorities said.
dealing and held on $100,000 bail
Officers cordoned off two blocks and scooped up about two-thirds of a pound of cocaine. A street sweeper cleaned up about 1 1/2 pounds more.
They allegedly took off when a deputy tried to stop them for a traffic violation. For about four blocks, the passenger tossed out white powder, and finally a cardboard box full of the drug, deputies said.