Actually, it can get worse

On Sunday afternoon, we decided to go visit Bastrop State Park, which is about 30 minutes drive east of Austin. We'd never been there before but knew it had a nice lake/river because they offer Learn To Fish classes that I'd investigated before the mega heatwave set in. And it was Labor Day weekend and we were all home and it was Not Quite So Hot because it was so windy, so we decided to try to take a walk. 

On the way out of Austin, I pointed out smoke on the horizon sky and we had a debate about whether it was smoke or dust, because all the fields are so dry.  As we got closer to Bastrop, we agreed it was smoke, and started googling on our phones (as you do) to see what had been reported. Nothing came up. Around 2pm we go to Bastrop and saw lots of cars parked along verges and, strangely, two horses and riders standing in the shade at a gas station. Being me, I started talking to the man in front of us at the cashier line, and he shook his head and said yes, it was a big fire and the only way he was going to get home to College Station was to "go all the way" around via Austin, because the roads were closed. 

We thought maybe the State Park was ok, because it was on the other side of the road. It wasn't.

Lucy took several photos out of the car, and they mostly looked like this except that where we were the smoke was really black. This was the closest I'd ever been to a wildfire, and it has haunted me for the last few days.

We drove home rather nervously. Winds were 35mph with higher gusts. By this time the internet had woken up and was also reporting fires in Spicewood, west of Austin, in Pflugerville, northeast of Austin, and in the Steiner Ranch subdivision northwest of Austin. I used to see home health clients in Steiner Ranch, which is described in the press as a "sprawling, upscale community of more than 4000 homes". We came up onto the over pass on Capital of Texas Highway, which gives a great view over the hill country, including our neighborhood. No smoke in our area but we could see plumes in different directions.

By Monday, more than 300 homes had been destroyed in the whole area, all of Steiner Ranch had been evacuated, which is quite an effort, and another fire started in Leander, north of Austin. The winds were dying down but the two fires west of Austin were only partially contained, and the Bastrop fire was going crazy.

This is official footage from Texas Parks and Wildlife of the Bastrop Fire yesterday. The winds have died down today so we hope it's not moving quite so fast.

According to this morning's paper, more than 700 homes have been destroyed. The Bastrop fire is now two fires, a big one, which is 30 percent contained, and a small one, which is 20 percent contained. The smoke from Bastrop can be seen in Mexico, I heard today. Here is a an amazing photo from Austin.

And there is no rain forecast through the middle of September.