Wednesday's Internet Edition, August 27, 2008.
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| HEROIC RESPONSE- A heroic response Sunday night by firefighters, prevented a wind-driven fire from claiming any homes as it raced towards the Littleville area in north Ham-ilton. Residents in a six-block area were evacuated, as the Hamilton Emergency Response Plan was activated. The fire was believed to have been started when the high winds caused two electric lines to cross each other creating sparks. The barn above was the only structure lost in the fire. Staff Photo |
The fire broke out at about 10 p.m. Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department Chief Toby Logan said that this fire was believed to have started when strong winds blew two electric lines together causing sparks.
The strong and very gusty winds blew through the area after thunderstorms east of here collapsed after sundown. The winds not only caused the sparks that started the fire, but also propelled the fire rapidly to the west, threatening at least six blocks of homes in Little-ville.
Equipment and firefighters were not far away when the call came in. They had been fight-ing a large grass fire a few miles farther east on State Highway 2905 that started around 4 p.m. that afternoon. The quick response of the area firefighters and the Texas For-est Service, which was also still at the scene of the earlier fire, remarkably prevented any home from being lost.
Six blocks of residents were evacuated. The American Red Cross responded to help with displaced persons and the First Baptist Church, as well as the St. John Lutheran Church, opened their doors for the evacuated residents.
The fire was contained by about midnight, but firefighters remained at the scene until the next morning.
An incident report showed that one barn was lost, and six homes were severely threat-ened.
The Sunday fires made the 16th consecutive day that the Hamilton VFD was called out to fight fires. Most other area departments have had a similar record of service.
The Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department was the first to arrive at the scene of the Sun-day afternoon fire. The re-sponders quickly ascertained that the fire was spreading too quickly for them to manage it alone and immediately acti-vated the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Manage-ment for additional resources.
Fire departments from throughout Hamilton County responded, as did departments from surrounding counties.
There were approximately 30 fire trucks and more than 100 firefighters helping to stop the rapidly spreading fire. The Texas Forest Service responded with two Task Forces, which included five aircraft, including one heavy tanker and five bull-dozers with their support.
Approximately 400 acres, two RVs and one vehicle were lost in the fire. But four homes that were threatened by the fire were saved. No injuries were reported.
Departments fighting the fire included Hamilton, Hico, Carlton, Pottsville, Shive, Jonesboro, Evant, Gatesville, Turnersville, Levita, Coryell City/Osage, Cranfills Gap, Bosque County, Gustine and Proctor. Commissioners Jim Boatwright and Mike Lewis from Precincts One and Four provided workers and equip-ment. Also responding were TxDOT, Hamilton EMS and Texas Department of Transpor-tation.
Many of these same depart-ments fought the Sunday night fire.
Throughout the events of Sunday, many civilian organi-zations helped with water, food and other resources.
Logan said he wished to thank everyone from through-out the community who as-sisted. He specifically men-tioned Keith Curry and Larry Curry and the many retired firemen who helped.
Among the businesses that assisted were: Dalton Drilling, Hamilton County Electric Co-op, J&J Custom Farming, Brandon Haile, Watson’s, Law-rence Brothers Grocery Store, Storm’s and KCLW.
Logan said that all of those who helped create the emer-gency response plan for Hamil-ton County should be congratu-lated. He said the plan was im-plemented and executed per-fectly. He specifically thanked Emergency Management Coor-dinator James Thompson.
When the emergency re-sponse plan was activated Sun-day night, the Hamilton Gen-eral Hospital immediately acti-vated its call-back procedures to ensure that adequate person-nel were on hand. Those re-called to the hospital included doctors and nurses. Fortunately, no injuries resulted from the fire.
Of the several fires in the county last week, one west of Hamilton on State Highway 2005 was among the largest. It burned approximately 100 acres. There were also fires east of town off of Highway 22, one of which burned more than 50 round bales of hay.
The daily fires have taken a toll on area firefighters, as well as their equipment and the de-partments’ resources.
Logan said that fuel costs have been tremendous. He said even the costs of purchasing bottled water are significant.
Tropical Storm Edouard moved onto the Texas coast Tuesday morning, giving some hope for relief in the form of rain to Central Texas. Even if the storm provides a few days of relief to our area fire de-partments, they are still going to need help from the commu-nity to restore their spent re-sources.