The point here is that this is a totally manufactured problem -- people have been STOPPING fires for so many decades that there is a build-up of dead trees, brush, and flammable materials. Prairie fires were a REGULAR occurrence BEFORE people started interfering with the process.
Regular fires kept the prairies as grasslands. While spectacularly fast, a grass fire runs through quickly and relatively cool (as fires go). It also killed off the young trees trying to invade the grasslands. Twenty years ago, I could go out to the LBJ National grasslands near Decatur and see actual grasslands; now, it's mostly forest.
Anyhow, what you get now is a fire that burns longer, thanks to the accumulated fuel base, and burns HOTTER and leaves large embers that reignite if given a chance.
I don't think it's so much a drought issue as too many years WITHOUT a fire. With the wind conditions we've had locally the last week or so, it's no surprise that a small fire would gallop away.
Pray for rain? Well, it's the least you can do.
Rick Perry is a politician. I've seen him up close and personal, working the crowd while taping a documentary, and let me say he's the QUINTESSENTIAL politician. He's good at what he does, which is appealing to the people and pandering his programs. It was interesting to see him working a crowd individually.
The prayer thing offers some hope to people who don't see much right now. Do I think it will help? Hell, no, as far as bringing rain goes. But as far as a fifteen-second sound bite goes, I think it made more people feel better (though pointlessly) than it did irritating atheists like myself, so I'll give him this one. Didn't cost taxpayers anything.
Beanbag
(every once in a while, you have to live in the real world, where things aren't perfect)
