Firefighters continue work on grass fire

A grass fire grew to more than 300 acres Sunday afternoon about a mile southeast of the Odessa Petrochemical Complex, with West Odessa Volunteer Fire Chief Jimmy Ellis estimating as many as 1,200 acres might have burned before they put it under control by Sunday evening.

No injuries or structural damage was reported during the fire, but firefighters from West Odessa, South Odessa and the city spent more than three hours to put it down after it was reported at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

By press time, a few small fires were still burning in the field. Ellis added it would take most of the evening before they put out the remaining hot spots and can begin to figure out how the blaze started. The effort took up so much time that the American Red Cross had to send a truck of its own to feed the firefighters.

"I've never seen the far end of it yet," Ellis said.

Before the blaze was put out, firefighters were describing flames about 30 feet high leaping through the field, which had little more than mesquite bushes and an occasional oil jack.

A light wind was coming from the south, blowing the smoke toward the east side of Odessa. The smoke from the fire was visible from places as far as Gardendale, according to another Odessa American reporter in that area.

Ellis said they damaged several of their own truck tires going through the area, which has extremely soft soil surrounding the Monahans Draw. The soft spots have made it tough for them to get some of the equipment near the hot spots.

During the height of the blaze, Grandview Avenue was unusually congested as firefighters and DPS troopers rushed to it. Rubberneckers pulled over on East Hammett Drive and City Service Road east of the blaze to see what was going on. The crowds were large enough that DPS and Ector County Sheriff deputies had to guard all the entrances to the privately owned field to keep them out.

West Odessa resident Karen Tucker said she and Ronny Tucker were able to see the cloud of smoke from the fire back home. While they were riding around they decided to see what it was.

"It's getting close to the heater treater," Karen Tucker feared.

Jesse Dominguez took his son, also named Jesse on top of his truck with a camera to watch the fire, just the fire was starting to get under control.

"They had some pretty good flames a minute ago," the father said. Even then, the flames were jumping well above the horizon and the thick column of black smoke filtered the yellow sun into a dirty orange that afternoon.

His son noticed all the people parked on the side of the road watching.

"Nothing ever happens here," his father responded.