Texas Wildfire Spreads Rapidly (VIDEO)

Firefighters in Bastrop, Texas, near Austin, are working to control a wildfire that has claimed lives and burned hundreds of homes.

With lighter winds in the area, officials reported that the Bastrop blaze was 30 percent contained by early Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

In the video below from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, you can see just how fast a wildfire spreads through dry brush on the north edge of Bastrop State Park. According to The Atlantic wire, the spreading fire spread across an entire field in under a minute.

Firefighters in Bastrop are receiving help from the elite Texas Task Force 1 which also helped with searches after the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

The state is currently in the midst of a nearly year-long dry spell that is the worst since the record drought of the 1950's.

Texas Governor Rick Perry toured burned areas near Bastrop earlier this week, saying, "The magnitude of these losses are pretty stunning," reports AP. Perry left a presidential campaign trip to South Carolina early to return to Texas and address the wildfires.

Scroll down after the video for pictures of the wildfire devastation.

Below are photos of the Bastrop, Texas wildfire destruction.

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Comments

[chancho24]

02:27 PM on 09/08/2011

Rick the Executioner Perry.
The idea of that dude as Prez is frightening.

[Judy Sanchez]

02:11 PM on 09/08/2011

Reminds me of the joke about the guy who kept praying to win the lottery and God finally told him, for goodness sake help me out by buying a lottery ticket!

Rick Perry to God: God, please put out the fires burning my state.
God to Rick Perry: Rick, you needed to fund fire-fighting, I coulda helped you out then.

[rbm32162]

08:33 AM on 09/08/2011

Wow! It is amazing to log in and read all of the posts. There really is ALOT of ire for the politicians/politics of all the states as well as the religous beliefs of all the people. If only we could stop all the calamity about who is right/who is wrong and use THAT energy into something more productive (like helping your fellow man,woman & child) we would be a much better nation as a whole. Think of the image we would send out if we were to put our beliefs (religous or political) aside for a moment to get through a tragedy and unite to become one for the same cause (we did it when the twin towers were attacked) and help either physically, physcologically or financially. The people of the United States really need to set aside their personal agenda/beliefs for just a moment to help out. It really is not a matter of who is right/wrong it is simply a matter of doing the right thing and the right thing to do is to help. We have become such a diverse nation with many different religous/political beliefs and that is what seems to be the real problem. There really is a Alot of truth in the statement "A friend in need is a friend indeed" Can't we just be friends, where's the harm in that?

[Richard Mckelvey]

09:57 PM on 09/07/2011

Texas is always saying they can do without the rest of the United States and take care of themselves so let them, I doubt Rick Perry has been in office long enough to underfund any body. They don't have income tax in Texas so where is the government suppose to get money to pay for services? Theres a drought down there and even a super funded fire fighting service would be in trouble.

[BOBinPS]

09:12 PM on 09/07/2011

Reduce financial disaster aid by the amount Perry "saved" by not funding fire fighters. Actually, 10X it. Call it an "idiot tax" for those that voted for him.

[hang319]

04:01 PM on 09/08/2011

Idiot tax!!! LOL! F&F

[TJ Logan]

09:06 PM on 09/07/2011

Should not Rick Perry be on the fire lines supporting the firefighters.

Where is Rick Perry?

At the Republican debates pandering to the Tea Bag Cult, establishing his unlimited greed, and his overpowering lust for power.

Perry has abandoned Texas as it burns with an underfunded fire fighting system all the work of Perry himself.

A real man, would pick up a shovel and go to the front lines. But then again Perry is not real, nor is he a man.

[fokman]

09:02 PM on 09/07/2011

god is still NOT listening to the godly governor.... damn!

[ktpinnacle]

09:00 PM on 09/07/2011

What the heck is Paul talking about? 9/11 was due to too much government? Not enough guns on the plane?

[ScreenName05]

08:28 PM on 09/07/2011

I am very sorry for the people of Texas, I hope they come out of this all right. And the heroes fighting this fire deserve all of our gratitude and respect.

On the other hand, the Apostle Rick just used this disaster to create a media event to promote himself. If those brave underpaid firefighters shot down his helicopter I wouldn't blame them in the slightest.

[TJ Logan]

09:07 PM on 09/07/2011

Where is Rick Perry, who underfunded Firefighters by $60 million, tonight?

He is not on the fire line with a shovel.

Must be up to something important.

[Troy Evans]

08:24 PM on 09/07/2011

hrmm. guess things are bigger in texas. on the bright side, it'll grow back healthier and prettier than before.

[BOBinPS]

09:13 PM on 09/07/2011

OK, that is optimistic. Actually, it couldn't be uglier than before........

[Mr Hoodoo]

08:10 PM on 09/07/2011

Meanwhile Rick The Miracle Worker Perry and his fellow GOP legislators figure out how to cut the budget some more:

Rick" "hmm...we gotyta cut some more from the volunteer firefighters and tack a few whacks at salaried firefighters as well, cuz, ya know, they're union so...

Then we can add to funding things like Formula-1 auto racing, which we defunded education for.

Whatchya think, guys?"

[BOBinPS]

08:07 PM on 09/07/2011

Fortunately it doesn't take long to pack a hat, a bible and a few guns. I hear they already sleep in their boots.

Why should the feds be responsible for paying for the damaged caused by Perry eliminating 75% of the fire responders?

Just let them pray.

[prizebox]

08:06 PM on 09/07/2011

To the drought stricken area of Texas and to the people that are evacuating Fair Oaks Ranch right now as we speak. We are with you and will support you in any way we can.

[wmechaneer]

08:37 PM on 09/07/2011

Thanks from a grateful Texan.

Reading the hate-filled bilge posted by the irrational lefties here is so sickening that I want to puke. Not once have I ever seen such HATE-FILLED GARBAGE posted by a "stupid southerner," any actual "christian," a lowly "walmart worker" or the left's most dispised human, a "hamburger flipper." Nor have any "republicans" or "conservatives" posted such UTTER FUMING HATE. The only visceral HATE appearing on these boards freely burbles from the hate-filled heart of the avariciously envious and unaccomplished left.

Some of the WORST AND MOST VILE HATE is actually posted by the folks that are supposed to be "moderating" these hate-filled pages seen everywhere on HuffPost.

You've shown more intellect and "class" in one line than anything these HATE MONGERS spew daily.

I doubt that this will appear, as it doesn't fit the socialist theocratic "purpose" that HuffPost has for an agenda.

[TJ Logan]

09:09 PM on 09/07/2011

Hate?

As a retired fire fighter I fully understand what an underfunded fire fighting effort is like. Fire fighters risk their lives in performing their civic duty.

Where is their commander Rick Perry tonight? Hes not on the fire line.

Perry is a coward.

[MauricioC]

09:16 PM on 09/07/2011

" Nor have any "republica­ns" or "conservat­ives" posted such UTTER FUMING HATE."

BS. people on the right espouse hate here every day.
Texas and their governor has made a spectacle of themselves, denouncing the federal government, talking of secession and then asking for money they said that they could do without. Texas has made a spectacle of itself by cutting government down so much that they cannot fight these fires to save peoples' homes.
If you want to blame anybody, blame mother nature, and take a long close look in your mirror.

[jacksparrow34]

08:05 PM on 09/07/2011

Where is bachman when we need her? with her expert religious explanation of all the natural disaster? wonder what will she say? Jesus hates texas? or what?

[wmechaneer]

08:40 PM on 09/07/2011

Your hate-filled ignorance is showing.

[TJ Logan]

09:10 PM on 09/07/2011

No, Jesus hates Texas.

[MauricioC]

09:16 PM on 09/07/2011

Give it up.

[DoloresDolly Stoklosa]

08:03 PM on 09/07/2011

OOPS! previous comment was about the problems in the schools in Texas. Sorry!