By ALEX BRANCH
Fort Worth Star Telegram
The bags under Kent Spencer’s eyes seem to darken as he recalls the last time he said goodnight to his 2-year-old daughter.
“It was Sunday,” said the 28-year-old chief of Boyd’s volunteer fire department. “I really haven’t seen her at all since then.”
Sunday was the last day that firefighters in this small Wise County city -- like many others across Texas -- were not battling wildfires.
Dry, windy weather has contributed to blazes that scorched homes from Callahan to Hood counties and up into Oklahoma.
While larger cities rely on paid firefighters, most rural areas, like Boyd, count at least partly on farmers, salesmen and machinists who volunteer to climb on a fire engine.
And they’re a little worn out.
“I think everyone could use some sleep,” Boyd firefighter Jeff Duncan said. “It’s just been one after the other.”
On Wednesday, some of the department’s 21 volunteers scraped mud and soot from their vehicles and washed down their hoses. A cool front increased humidity and calmed winds, a welcome relief. But winds were supposed pick up this weekend -- “Just in time for New Year’s!” Duncan said with mock enthusiasm for the day of fireworks.
The last few days have felt like one big constant fire.
On Tuesday, the firefighters were “mopping up” after a fire that had destroyed three homes the day before, when two blazes broke out within an hour. Together, the fires burned about 180 acres, and firefighters worked to extinguish hot spots until 1 a.m.
At 3 a.m. Wednesday, they were rousted from bed to help fight a fire in Briar, but the call was canceled on the way, Spencer said. A few hours later, they responded to a call that someone was burning trash.
They found the fire burning but nobody around.
“She just lit it and left,” Spencer said with a shake of his head. “When she gets home, she’ll see that we flooded her trash can. She could get fined.”
Boyd’s is not the only fire department stretched thin, Spencer said. He pointed to a dry-erase board listing every agency that helped Tuesday: Decatur. Briar. Saginaw. Boonsville. Cottondale. ... There were 26 in all.
The Boyd Fire Department has one tanker, one engine, two brush trucks and one small rescue truck. It relies on help from neighboring cities for big fires, and vice versa.
“If there’s a big fire anywhere in the county today, we’ll go,” said Capt. Dwayne Frame, seated on a couch at the station. “Doesn’t matter if isn’t right around here.”
About 1 p.m., a flare-up was reported at the Boyd Raceway. Flames had burned right up to the building Tuesday.
The fire was only smoldering, so firefighters Wil Smith, 18, and Tommy Throckmorton, 22, said they wouldn’t do much but make sure it didn’t spread.
“We don’t have enough water to use on stuff like this,” said a bleary-eyed Throckmorton in the firetruck.
Throckmorton works in a bow-hunting shop, Smith at the IGA grocery store in Boyd.
Both said they had no trouble getting off work for this job.
“My bosses are real good about it,” Smith said. “A while ago, there was a fire in Boonsville, and they called and told me that they had someone to work for me. They say ‘Go.’”
Among the volunteers are a glass technician, warehouse workers and farmers. Farmers “are good because they can just break free whenever they need to,” said Spencer, a professional firefighter in Trophy Club.
Spencer has had three days off from that job but is back on duty at 6 a.m. today.
The Boyd department’s fuel budget is already shot, he said, but that’s mostly because of high gas prices this year.
One of the biggest unforeseen expenses caused by the rash of grass fires has been for food, water and Gatorade.
“We’ve been out there so much, and we’ve got everyone hydrated and fed,” he said.
In the early afternoon, Duncan unrolled nine dirty hoses outside the station, then blasted them with water.
A few others washed and wiped down the fire engine.
The firefighters’ boots were set neatly at their lockers, positioned inside their overalls so that the whole outfit could be pulled on quickly.
Wednesday was quiet.
But, as Duncan said, “We’re not counting on staying quiet.”