Texas Wildfires

I'm not making light of the situation in Texas when I say that a page can be taken from their plight to use in any RPG setting. Too often, only the "glam" disasters (Floods, Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Tornados, Earthquakes) seem to get press coverage and natural, less immediately spectacular disasters get short shrift from the press.  The situation in Texas is dire and will have long term affects not only on Texas but the entire USA and even the world.  Whole herds of cattle are being sold off, fortunately in an up market, but when some of the older farmers sell off they never get back in the game.  The fire and concurrent drought has evaporated watering holes on many ranges forcing long time ranchers to reduce their stock to a few breeders and many are seeing this as a time to cut and run permanently, and who can blame them?  As herds disappear and are not reconstituted in the subsequent years, prices are going to skyrocket for domestic beef and the USA will become dependent on foreign sources of broil (sorry, couldn't help it).  Keep an eye on this.  Even as the country is recovering from East Coast adversity, what is happening to our friends in Texas is going to become a recurring topic of discussion for many, many years to come.

To help put this in perspective, here's a video from NASAtelevision on Youtube of wildfire plumes from the space station -