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About
the time I think I have "seen all, been there and done that" I encounter
a new experience.
The recent big prairie fires top all my life's previous dangerous
episodes.
I have suffered frostbite from being out in blizzards trying to save
cattle, been caught in the open prairie with hailstones big as your
fist bouncing off my head, survived floods with eight inches of rain
raging along every creek and canyon, fighting prairie and wheat fires
from Perryton
to Canadian
to New Mexico to back here at the ranch. I have survived countless
horse wrecks and a couple of car wrecks, and thought I had experienced
all the occupational hazards of agriculture and life in general. I
was wrong.
Sunday and Monday, March 12 and 13, take the grand prize of all my
lifems chapters. We were told by telephone a fire was burning along
McClellan Creek north of the ranch. With winds at 60 mph, a prairie
fire would move fast. We drove to a hilltop on Interstate 40 to see
the fire already past our ranch moving to the northeast. It appeared
to be past us and we prepared to go help our neighbors. Suddenly,
the wind changed to the north and instead of a narrow fire burning
northeast, we were faced with a 20-mile-wide fire traveling south
straight to our ranch. We sat in the car and watched it cross both
interstates and exit roads in seconds. We raced back to our home and
prepared to fight as long as possible.
We had a big submergible water pump and garden hoses laid around preparing
to start our spring watering. Sadly, the electricity was already off
and our plans were useless. We called 911 several times, but all units
were overwhelmed and busy. We were on our own. At times our efforts
resembled the Keystone Cops or the Three Stooges in action. No matter
what we did, the winds changed, speeded up or down, and our efforts
were wasted. Using brooms, rakes and shovels, we fought the blazes
and at other times fled for our lives. We tried to keep in mind that
old people do not have any business fighting fires, but we had too
much at stake. We rested at times but always returned to the fire
line. We stopped the blaze at our house foundation. We lost our shop
and gallery, 30 feet to the north. A large cedar tree exploded and
set the building on fire. Without water we could do nothing but try
to keep the sparks away from our house. Sons and nephews came from
Taos, N.M., Lubbock,
Amarillo and Lefors
early the next morning. We fought fires all day in continually changing
winds.
By mid-afternoon, the Texas Forest Service arrived with graders and
finally contained the blazes. We prowled the pastures and watched
all the second night trying to keep smoking stumps and cow chips from
igniting again. Finally on Tuesday, we were able to relax. We lost
more than half our grass, but it will grow back. We lost a six-room
house containing a well-equipped wood shop and a lot of materials.
This was insured and can be replaced. Sadly, we lost many of our lifetime
collections, sculptures, art and family keepsakes forever. Other than
coughing and a few dizzy spells we survived. We are thankful.
© Delbert
Trew
"It's All Trew"
November 14, 2006 Column
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