Drought, heat bring wildfire all too close to home

Odessa volunteer firefighters spent Sunday, the hottest day of the year 2015 so far, fighting two fires that started on the eastern outskirts of town, caused by downed power lines. Rural fire chief Roger Sebesta said the precise cause was still being investigated, but he suspected it had something to do with the extreme temperatures and the increased electrical loads due to air conditioners in use, irrigation pumps running, etc.

Spectators a serious hazard for firefighting crews

Nearly as dangerous as the fire itself was the traffic jam that developed at the intersections of Highway 28 with Dobson Road and Laney Brothers Road. Sebesta cautioned Odessa residents to stay out of the way of fire trucks and other official vehicles. Firefighters are focussed on the flames and not on vehicles that should not be there in the first place. It became necessary Sunday to close Highway 28 at those intersections in order to keep spectators and their vehicles from blocking the fire crews and the support groups who supplied the crews with drinking water and food as the afternoon wore on. One fireman’s wife was prevented from delivering food and water to the crew when vehicles entirely blocked Dobson Road and drivers refused to move to allow her through.

The original fire call was received at about 1 p.m. Sunday, Sebesta said, and was ultimately extinguished at around 6 p.m. A second fire call, also came into the dispatch office about midway through the afternoon, so the firefighters had their hands full.

The fire was located near Laney Brothers Road just outside of Odessa. The homes of Todd and Terri King and of Ron and Maxine Ferderer were threatened, but firefighters were able to keep the flames at bay and neither home suffered any fire damage. Several acres worth of sagebrush-covered pasture land and CRP were burned before firefighters were able to bring the conflagration under control.

One of the fire trucks suffered a mechanical breakdown and then also caught on fire. Fortunately, crew members were able to put the fire out quickly and get the truck started again.

A fast-moving weather front moved through the area at around midnight on Sunday, with high winds, lightning, thunder and a very small amount of rain. The wind kicked up all kinds of dust and the smattering of rain that came down left vehicles, sidewalks and anything outdoors with a coating of dirty spots.

On Monday, the heat hovered aroung the 100 degree mark, and even though it was was not quite as high as it had been Sunday, it was hot and dry enough to re-ignite the fire that had started the day before. Tuesday was also a repeat of Monday, as hot spots once again flared up and the volunteer firefighters rushed to their trucks.

On both days, it took firefighting crews several hours worth of effort to put out the re-ignited flames.