Copyright 2006 The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by Knight/Ridder Tribune News Service
By BRANDON FORMBY and JENNIFER EMILY
The Dallas Morning News (Texas)
Armed with optimism and a sense of obligation to weary fellow firefighters, members of North Texas departments are headed to West Texas to help battle the raging wildfires.
Firefighters and emergency workers from several Denton County cities huddled at Golden Triangle Mall in Denton on Wednesday morning as they prepared to leave for Childress.
“Our last words to them were, ‘Go out and make a difference,’ ” said Richard Lasky, Lewisville’s fire chief.
Chief Lasky, who also serves as president of the county’s fire chiefs association, said the team was put together immediately after a statewide call for assistance Tuesday night. The blazes have charred more than 800,000 acres and killed 11 people in three days.
“We’ve been watching it since it first started,” Chief Lasky said. “We can’t self-deploy or self-dispatch. We have to be officially requested.”
The county’s fire officials developed a system after Sept. 11, 2001, that allows them to respond to such requests immediately without overextending resources or personnel from a single department. Chief Lasky said the terrorist attacks made fire department officials realize how much they must rely on nearby colleagues.
“It was a wake-up call nationally to make sure we are all working together and using resources to the best of our abilities and we’re not duplicating efforts,” he said. “You really started to see fine-tuning of special response teams.”
The county’s response team for the Panhandle blazes includes personnel, supplies, equipment and engines from eight agencies. Emergency responders may be there for only a day, but they are prepared for weeklong stints. Chief Lasky said the departments have lists of firefighters and responders willing to tackle such assignments.
Air they breathe
“That’s what firefighters thrive on: They love helping people,” Chief Lasky said. “Even if they just go and cover firehouses for these communities. But, if they end up on the front of the wildfire line, they’ll be just as happy.”
From Collin County, firefighters from Anna, Celina, Farmersville, Frisco, McKinney, Melissa, Prosper and Wylie were en route to the Panhandle. They were prepared to sleep on the ground or in tents, although shelter may be provided.
The Anna department, which is a combination paid and volunteer force, sent three firefighters on a brush truck for a three-day stint starting in Childress. They were ready to battle flames reportedly reaching 50 feet in the air, Fire Marshal James Dockray said.
He said the absence of the brush truck leaves the city of about 5,000 residents with 16 firefighters and six other pieces of firefighting and medical rescue equipment.
“As a department, we’re always responding to calls for people who need help,” Marshal Dockray said. “We decided that we could help the fellow firefighters out. Other departments are doing the same thing, so that’s why we sent people to help out.”
Frisco Fire Chief Mack Borchardt sent eight firefighters, including Deputy Chief Paul Siebert, for two to three days. Frisco also sent an engine, an ambulance and Chief Siebert’s vehicle.
“We’ll be able to see what it takes to coordinate that type of effort, so that if something were to ever happen here in Frisco or North Texas, that we might be that much more prepared,” Deputy Chief Siebert said.
They left at 2 a.m. Wednesday for Childress but were rerouted to Shamrock.
“The city of Frisco has always supported helping our neighbors,” Chief Borchardt said. “It’s kind of nice Texans helping Texans. And we knew if we needed help, they could come help us.”
Metro departments
Unlike their smaller counterparts, metropolitan departments such as Dallas and Fort Worth must negotiate more bureaucratic red tape and ensure that they can spare the personnel and equipment and still manage to cover their regular call loads, officials said.
“We’re the largest department in the county, and we need to have all our equipment ready if something breaks out here,” Fort Worth fire Lt. Kent Worley said. “We have a lot of open territory.”
The Dallas Fire-Rescue department decided Wednesday afternoon to dispatch 12 people and five pieces of equipment to Childress.
“They’re going home, packing enough personal items for at least seven days, and they’re going to report to ... go to West Texas,” said Dallas Fire-Rescue Lt. Joel Lavender.
A team of six Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport firefighters, accompanied by a fire truck and support vehicle, also left for Childress. Airport Fire Chief Alan Black said the firefighters were excited, but apprehensive.
“Right now, what’s on their mind is business,” Chief Black said. “They’re going about their business of getting packed, getting ready. They’re a little quiet and focused, which I think is what you would expect under the circumstances.”
Tarrant help
Tarrant County departments, including Saginaw, Haltom City and Hurst, have contributed 16 pieces of equipment and more than two dozen volunteers to the effort.
Fire Marshal Randy Renois said the Tarrant County contingent was told it would be needed at least two days, if not a week, depending on the conditions.
“This is the largest grass fire that I can remember,” Marshal Renois said. “I heard this morning that they already had something like 42 pieces of apparatus up there total, but there’s more coming.”
He said Tarrant County long has pitched in on such efforts.
“The Forest Service has known for years that they can depend on Tarrant County to help out, within a certain distance,” he said.
Staff writer Jason Trahan, DallasNews.com and WFAA-TV contributed to this report.