SAFD gives update on panhandle fire crews

Aaron McGuire
·4 min read

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) —The San Angelo Fire Department spoke with the San Angelo City Council on Tuesday to discuss the status of the fire crews it sent to help combat the ongoing wildfire crisis in the Texas Panhandle.

SAFD Fire Chief Patrick Brody approached the City Council during the public comment section of the March 5 council meeting to share what the fire crews sent to the panhandle had accomplished thus far.

The SAFD sent one firefighting crew to help tame the flames ever since the wildfires consuming large swaths of the Lone Star State began to grow to their catastrophic size, with personnel first being reported in the panhandle on Feb. 28. According to Brody, the San Angelo firefighters were initially staged in Childress, Texas, a city approximately 200 miles from the major cluster of wildfires.

“When the fire broke out on Monday, they were immediately dispatched to that area,” Brody said.”

From there, the firefighters were dispatched to Canadian, Texas, to stave off any further flames. The town had been ravaged by the Smokehouse Creek wildfire, which has become the largest fire in Texas history after burning over 1 million acres of land.

The SAFD would send another crew shortly thereafter as well as an additional brush truck and two engine bosses. San Angelo’s Texas A&M Forest Service also deployed its own team with the firefighting crews, making the San Angelo-based forces amount to 10 personnel.

“We have a strong presence of San Angelo, whether it be San Angelo Fire or Texas Forest Service, represented in the panhandle,” Brody said.

Since the SAFD’s arrival at Canadian, 19 strike teams and 323 personnel have been sent to the area to help face off against the inferno. The firefighters also have air support in the form of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

“They’re beginning to get a handle on the situation,” Brody said. “I spoke with a strike team leader this morning, and we’re at 55% containment. That’s a huge stride.”

However, the work is not yet finished. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, the wildfires’ acreage and percentage contained as of 1:30 p.m. on March 4 are as follows:

  • Grape Vine Creek Fire, Gray County – 34,882 acres, 60% contained

  • Smokehouse Creek Fire, Hutchinson County – est. 1,076,638 acres, 15% contained

  • Windy Deuce Fire, Moore County – 144,206 acres, 55% contained

  • Magenta Fire, Oldham County – 3,297 acres, 85% contained

  • Roughneck Fire, Hutchinson County – est. 300 acres, 50% contained

Despite the daunting task ahead of them, the SAFD hasn’t stopped giving it their all.

“At first [the fire personnel] were putting in the normal shift. The normal shift is a 12-hour shift. But they’re putting in 15, 16, 18 hours consecutively with no sleep, out on the line,” Brody said. “I see pictures coming home from those guys up there working, and you can just see it all over their face — they’re exhausted, but they’re doing God’s work.”

RELATED: SAFD shares on-the-ground glimpse of panhandle fires

The work of the SAFD hasn’t gone unnoticed by the residents of Canadian. Brody shared with the City Council that the Texas Municipal Police Association expressed its gratitude in an email on behalf of the citizens affected by the flames, which he read aloud to the council members.

“I was advised that if the San Angelo Fire Department had not arrived when they did, there was a strong belief that the community would be an entire loss,” a representative of the TMPA said in the email. “The San Angelo Fire Department arrived with little time to spare and began to hold the lines to keep the town from being a much larger loss. The citizens I spoke with were extremely appreciative of San Angelo’s response and efforts to stop the fire from causing any worse loss to the community.”

Brody and the City Council expressed immense pride in the San Angelo firefighters who have risked their personal safety to help their fellow Texans in their hour of need.

“My heart is full of pride with these people,” Brody said. “They are representing our city, and they are defending a community that they are not a part of. It’s something to be very proud of.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ConchoValleyHomepage.com.