Fire storm spares city

By: Sherrie Williams
A fire storm swept through Wichita County last Thursday leaving miles and miles of destruction around Iowa Park, which was spared thanks to numerous firefighters, and city and county workers.

A fire started west of Electra before noon Thursday and began making its way into Electra, fanned by winds gusting as high as 50 to 60 miles an hour from the north and west.

It destroyed a factory in Electra among other buildings as it made its way east.

The flames had soon made it’s way east of Electra.

Fire departments were called in from surrounding areas to help, including Iowa Park.

In addition, there was a fire in Burkburnett, one on FM 258 and numerous others in counties south and east of Iowa Park.

Resources to fight the fires were limited, even the Texas Forest Service was stretched to the limit.

Iowa Park Volunteer Fire Chief Randy Fulbright called in all of the firemen, including those who were at work.

Soon the majority of the Iowa Park Volunteer Firemen were at the station, leaving behind paying jobs, families, etc.

Fulbright and another firefighter responded to 2384 east of Electra with a grass truck. Later an engine and crew responded to Electra.

“We did our best to control the fire on the eastside of Electra,” Fulbright said.

With the fire chief outside Iowa Park, Iowa Park Volunteer Assistant Fire Chief Lewis Skinner took charge in Iowa Park to protect the city.

He and several other fireman took care of Iowa Park calls and they were numerous.
They were also monitoring the surrounding fires on standby ready to roll if there was a need.

As the fire made it’s way east, Iowa Park City Administrator Mike Price and city crews with a maintainer and other heavy equipment began preparing fire breaks west of Iowa Park. They were joined by Wichita County Precinct 3 crews with their maintainer and a semi tanker of water on standby.

City crews had any container that would hold water filled and ready to do what ever might need to be done to stop the fire from coming into Iowa Park.

Once the breaks were completed the crews joined Iowa Park firemen at FM 2384. The crews then made fire breaks at that location, where the fire stopped.

“We were determined to stop it at FM 2384 and we did,” Fulbright said. “The closest the fire got to Iowa Park was six miles in any direction.”

Some of the Iowa Park firemen were on scene as many as 13 hours. They were on the front lines not only helping save their neighbors property but protecting Iowa Park from wildfires that were leaving a devastating trail through or around other communities.

Skinner and other firefighters remained in Iowa Park answering numerous calls for downed power lines, a blown transformer, and power outages as the winds continued to reap havoc in North Texas. They also responded to several medical calls during that time.

At the end of the long day, all of the Iowa Park Volunteer fire fighters, city and county crews returned home safely with no injuries. There was some equipment damage, but nothing major, according to Fulbright.

The following morning the firemen started their day with a call to a house fire in the 400 block of West Lafayette. The vacant home received major damage.

According to the Texas Forest Service, from Thursday to Sunday there were 31 wildfires throughout Texas.

The Electra fire burned 4,500 acres and thousands more acres burned at other fires in Wichita, Clay, Archer, and Montague counties, as well as other Texas counties.

In those fires preliminary estimates have 91 residential homes destroyed, over 200 head of livestock injured or killed, and numerous reports of property loss in north Texas.