Austin Harden has never seen destruction like what he saw outside of Fritch.
Burnt houses and vehicles were destroyed and scattered across the landscape. Children’s bicycles became so hot their frames melted. The area he was looking at no longer resembled a Texas town.
“It was just mass destruction,” Harden, chief of the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department, said. “The needs are so heavy there to get these Texans back and on track.”
As one of eight West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department members, Harden and his crew responded to the Panhandle to assist in battling the Smokehouse Creek and Windy Deuce fires, taking a command vehicle, a brush truck, the department drones and two tankers.
The team was joined by five additional members: three from the Monahans Volunteer Fire Department and two from the Gardendale Volunteer Fire Department.
The Smokehouse Creek fire started Feb. 26 and quickly engulfed the region, becoming the largest wildfire in Texas history, burning more than 1 million acres and is currently 87 percent contained as of Monday. At least two fatalities have been attributed to the blaze.
A lawsuit filed against Xcel Energy Services Inc. and two other utilities claims the fire started “when a wooden pole defendants failed to properly inspect, maintain and replace, splintered and snapped off at its base,” according to the Associated Press.
Harden made the trip up north on Feb. 28 after receiving contact information for volunteer fire officials in Stinnett. Volunteering, the group spent time inspecting properties to make sure they were habitable, and then making sure fires didn’t flare back up after being extinguished outside of Pampa.
With shoestring budgets and hand-me-down equipment, many towns in the Panhandle depend on volunteers in emergencies.
With $1.9 million allocated to the West Odessa department by the Ector County Commissioner’s Court through American Rescue Plan Act Funds to purchase new equipment, Ryan Kelly of the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department said helping out is the right thing to do.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re volunteering or getting paid and working at the local, state or federal level,” he said. “It’s all about getting out there to protect people’s lives and property.”
Harden said if called to return, his team will do whatever is needed.
“No matter the distance, we’re all Texans,” he said. “We feel it’s our duty to help them any way we can.”
