Copyright 2006 Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Copyright 2006 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By AMIE STREATER
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)
RINGGOLD, Texas — Ashes were still falling from the sky like charred snowflakes Monday, a day after a raging wildfire consumed 20,000 acres across Clay and Montague counties in the Lone Star state and virtually decimated this tiny farm town.
Officials were still assessing the damage Monday afternoon by counting the smoldering piles of rubble that used to be farm houses, barns and businesses. Early estimates indicated that as many as 45 homes and other structures were burned, roughly 80 percent of the town.
“It was just so fast, God Almighty,” said Kelly Riney, 42. “With 40 mile-an-hour winds, it don’t take long.”
Riney helped save his mother-in-law’s home Sunday by joining other relatives in spraying the house with water hoses.
Riney and his wife were not successful in saving numerous cattle fenced at a farm across the road. They cut the fence but the animals were afraid to escape. Their burned bodies were strewn across the scorched ground that only a day before was a peaceful pasture.
“You could feel the heat, and there was so much smoke, you couldn’t see,” said his wife, Donna Riney.
The Rineys and other residents described a fast-moving fire that in just minutes swept from distant hills to rage at their doorsteps.
Jack Simpson, president of the Ringgold Volunteer Fire Department, said the firefighters knew they couldn’t put out the wall of fire, so they focused on saving what buildings they could.
“You couldn’t even start to get in front of it,” he said. “We just tried to stop it from burning houses and businesses, and just let everything else burn.”
Gov. Rick Perry toured the damaged areas of the town Monday, talking with firefighters and other volunteers and stopping in front of the remains of the Grissom’s home for a brief press conference.
Praising the “Herculean effort” of the firefighters who battled the blaze, Perry said the wildfires that broke out New Year’s Day and rampaged across the state have caused unprecedented damage.
“It was an extraordinary day in the history of this state,” said Perry, who last week declared Texas a disaster area, making residents affected by the fires eligible for federal aid.
Carolyn Grissom was home with her granddaughter and 3-month-old great-grandson preparing a venison roast, gumbo and cabbage for Sunday lunch when a sheriff’s deputy came by and warned them of the approaching fire. She said they grabbed the baby, one of their pet birds and a handful of belongings and ran for their truck, thinking they would have time to go back for more clothing, the rest of their pets and a few other belongings.
They were wrong.
“We ran through fire,” said Grissom, 57. They recovered just a few kitchen items from the rubble Monday, including a teapot that had been a wedding gift.
Her husband, Melvin Grissom, said they had been denied insurance on the home because it had multiple layers of wood shingles on the roof.
That was one of the things Melvin Grissom, 56, was planning to change as he renovated the two-bedroom house, which was to be the couple’s retirement home.
“It’s gone, but all the important things are still here,” he said. “She’s still here,” he said, pointing to his wife. “The kids are still here, when you get down to it, all this other stuff doesn’t matter. You just have to count your blessings.”
Montague County Judge James Kittrell broke into tears Monday as he talked about his relief that no one was killed in the fires. He said the town will rebuild.
“There was really no way to save Ringgold, but we did the best we could.”