Mineral Wells Index, Mineral Wells, TX

Local News

July 15, 2009

<font color="red">Grass blazes kept local firefighters hot and busy Tuesday</font>

Related Photos

  • Christin Coyne

    Sartain fire

  • Flames engulf a patch of tall coastal grass along Sartain Road. Christin Coyne

    Sartain fire 2

  • Passerby Paul Lyons grabbed a water hose and did what he could to keep flames from approaching a residence on Sartain Road during Tuesday afternoon's fire. Christin Coyne

    Sartain fire Paul Lyons

  • A Texas Forest Service helicopter made one drop of water on the Sartain Road fire. Christin Coyne

    Sartain fire helicopter drop

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Residents near Mineral Wells Municipal Airport were saying 'not again' as for the third time in just over three years fire threatened their homes and businesses.

By Christin Coyne
ccoyne@mineralwellsindex.com

Several fires sprang up around Mineral Wells Tuesday afternoon, destroying at least one house and burning several hundred acres.

Firefighters battled a grass fire between Sartain Road and Municipal Highway 379 Tuesday afternoon, saving several homes and structures, livestock and a business.

Fighting the fire in 106-degree weather, dry conditions, winds of 15 miles per hour with gusts of up to 25 miles per hour, volunteers from as far away as Santo, Lone Camp and Springtown came to help with the fire, reported around 3 p.m.

Flames blackened the yards around houses and burned fences and other property in pastures or yards but firefighters appeared to save most, if not all, structures.

The fire began around the north side of the 4100 block of Sartain Road, the third in the area since 2006, and, burning dozens of acres, traveled north and west to MH 379, where firefighters said they drew a line in the sand to keep the fire from jumping the road.

A Texas Forest Service helicopter made one drop on the fire before receiving word canceling the request for service.

Residents in the potential path of the fire rounded up livestock and watered their yards as firefighters fought to contain the fire.

Most fire fighting trucks had left the scene by 6 p.m.

Jennifer Bernet, who lives on the south side of Sartain in the 4000 block, went knocking on neighbors doors when she realized the field next to her neighbors was on fire, according to her husband, Ernie Bernet.

Ernie Bernet helped another passerby, identified as Paul Lyons, use garden hoses and shovels to keep the slow moving southeast edge of the fire from several structures along Sartain Road while firefighters battled the front end. His children fetched garden hoses and other items as he and Lyons stomped, sprayed and crushed the flames to save as much of his neighbor’s yard as possible.

Leon Tomlinson said he was arriving home from work when he was told he could not go home to his trailer near the fire, so he stood near his truck along the side of the road and watched flames and clouds of smoke rise directly behind his house.

“It’s a little old travel trailer, but it’s all I have,” Tomlinson said.

Barry Gill, Palo Pinto County Emergency Management Coordinator, also responded to a house fire on Shattles Road that broke out before 5 p.m. and said early in the evening he did not have much information on the grass fire.

Police and volunteer firefighters also had problems dealing with passing traffic. A minor wreck involving a passing vehicle on MH 379 was reported.

“It’s gotten a little out of control today,” one volunteer firefighter said of the number of reported fires in the area.

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