From DMN... Cross Plains Future in Doubt -- town nearly destroyed by fires.

[Murphy3]

Cross Plains' future in doubt

10:49 PM CST on Friday, December 30, 2005
By SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News


CROSS PLAINS, Texas – When Bob Harrell arrived, the fire was tame, crawling through knee-high bluestem grass in a ditch four miles west of town.

Slideshow
Cross Plains Devastation
He had two fire trucks and four men, more than enough for a grass fire the size of a two-car garage. Mr. Harrell, the town's volunteer fire chief, snaked hoses around the fire's fringe and helped blast the hot edges.

He thought they had it out – until an ember blew into a briar-choked fence line. The fire leapt and sprinted toward town, unzipping in a 40-mph wind. Then it exploded in a stand of dry cedar trees.

In that moment, Cross Plains was lost.

From above, what's left looks like a smudge on the open prairie.

Tuesday's wildfire devoured 7,700 acres in Callahan County – roughly the size of downtown Dallas – destroyed 116 homes, about half the dwellings in town, and killed two elderly women.

Cross Plains, where the median income is $22,235, might never recover from its economic wounds, according to Jim Compton, director of the West Central Texas Council of Governments.

The town sustained $4.1 million in damage, much of it to uninsured homes. It could cost as much as $10 million to rebuild. Without a major industry to keep people in town – the grocery store is the largest private employer, with fewer than 20 jobs – Mr. Compton expects many people to relocate.

"Something like this could destroy the town, absolutely," he said.

Shirley Davis, 48, whose home was damaged but largely spared, said she thinks her neighbors will rebuild in Cross Plains for the same reasons she stays – the gravitational pull of extended family.

"I'd never live anywhere else, and neither would most people," she said. "Everybody says it's going to be beautiful and green out here next year. There are a lot of nutrients in that grass."

Cross Plains is known for its smoked deer meat and taxidermy shops. Its most famous resident was Robert E. Howard, author of Conan the Barbarian, who committed suicide on June 11, 1936, after learning his mother was terminally ill.

This verse was discovered in his typewriter:

All fled, all done,

So lift me on the pyre;

The feast is over,

And the lamps expire.



Fire's path

Early on, the Cross Plains fire looked as if it might track just north of the city.

Bob Harrell and his crews dug in along Highway 36 at the Cross Plains Veterinary Clinic. Across the road, a U.S. Forestry Service truck kept a wall of flames off a 30,000-gallon butane tank.

About Cross Plains

Location: 150 miles west of Fort Worth in Callahan County

Population: just over 1,000

Median income: $22,235

Median age: 42.2 years

High school mascot: Buffaloes

Claim to fame: hometown of Robert E. Howard, author of Conan the Barbarian.

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research
Mr. Harrell drove out on Highway 36 the night after the fire. He pulled into the gravel parking lot at Mike and Ed's Smokehouse and flashed his headlights onto the vet's office.

"We stopped it right there," he said, the light still partially diffused by smoke. "Then it got around behind us."

By the time the fire reached Cross Plains, it was 50 feet high in some places, creating its own swirling wind, curling up telephone poles and leaping from house to house. Witnesses said the flames looked alive when they crossed over Main Street, arching from one rooftop to another, creating the illusion of a moving tunnel of fire.

"This ain't no luck," said Monty Richards two days later, standing next to a heap of ash and twisted metal where his mother's house once stood. "God took care of us."

Mr. Richards' home next door was spared.

The Cross Plains fire was fickle. On Ave. E, it took out three houses in a row, skipped a church, and then consumed a city block. Mattie Faye Wilson, a retired 67-year-old teacher, died in her home nearby.

She played the ukulele and harpsichord. She taught her students to sing "B-I-N-G-O" and "Froggy Went a Courtin."

"She was by far my favorite teacher," said Wes Brown, who teaches second and third grade in Westbrook, Texas. "She's one of the reasons I became a teacher."

Two of Ms. Wilson's nephews sifted through the ash Thursday afternoon.

The second victim was Maudie Shepard, a bed-ridden 89-year-old who lived with her son.

Two blocks away from Ms. Wilson's house, rubble is all that remains of First United Methodist Church.

Melanie Long and other members helped salvage the cross and plan to prop it up during a parking lot service Sunday morning.

"We're pretty strong and stubborn when it comes to our church," she said.


'Like a big family'

Faith binds Cross Plains, explained Pat Stephens at First Baptist Church, which was converted into a Red Cross shelter after the fire. On a yellow legal pad, she was listing all the people in town who had lost homes. She was on her second page, number 53.

"We're close around here," she said. "It's like a big family."

At her feet, a pickle jar is stuffed with $20s and checks.

"We've had people coming in who lost their house, and they'll drop a check in the jar," she said. "They'll say, 'I've got another house,' or 'I have insurance.' That's the kind of people we have in Cross Plains."

Two tables away, Joyce Savell sits alone. Her eyes look defeated.

In the last two years, her parents and her husband have died. Tuesday, her house burned down.

"I go from check to check," she said. "Sometimes I make it; sometimes I don't."

Moments later, Pastor Ronnie White sat in his office and thought out loud about Sunday's sermon. He plans to preach from the 66th Psalm, which discusses God's perseverance through pain.

It is an affirming Christian message that he recited once at the funeral of an elderly man.

Afterward, the man's son approached the preacher.

"I told him, 'God is faithful,' " Mr. White said.

"Yes," the man said, "but what do I do with his shoes?"

In other words, how would he carry on.

Mr. White said it is a question that will almost certainly be on the minds of the faithful Sunday, as they fill churches in Cross Plains.

"We don't have an answer for that question," he said. "We can't help you decide what to do with those shoes. All we can do is love you while you're going through this."


STATE: FIRE DANGER REMAINS HIGH

State officials warned again Friday that dry and windy weather, combined with New Year's festivities, could spell disaster if Texans aren't careful.

The National Weather Service said a cold front would bring lower humidity and gusty southwest winds this weekend.

Maximum public cooperation is needed to avoid a repeat of wildfires that burned thousands of acres, including much of a West Texas town, this week.

"This weekend brings a worst-case scenario for us," Tom Spencer, a fire risk assessment coordinator, said in a Texas Forest Service statement Friday.

As of Friday, 179 counties had banned outdoor burning and 86 had banned fireworks.

Some counties believe the governor should use his emergency powers to ban fireworks statewide over the New Year's weekend because of the potential for igniting new fires. The counties do not directly have the authority to ban distribution of fireworks.

But the governor said he is leaving it to county and city officials who "are in the best position to assess local conditions," said press secretary Kathy Walt.

She said counties do have authority to take action by virtue of the governor's emergency proclamation issued this week.

The underlying statute that the proclamation is drawn from does allow local officials to enact regulations and bans to protect property and life, she said.

Ms. Walt also said the governor is urging all Texans to avoid any activity that might spark another disaster, be it fireworks, barbecues or outside welding.

[Murphy3]

I can honestly say that there are few places in Texas that I like less than Cross Plains. Some of the sorriest people that I have ever met in my life are from Cross Plains. But, even with that, obviously I would never wish anything like this on anyone.

CPlains is very close to my hometown...

[Drbio]

I can't believe how fast that fire went through that town.

[Murphy3]

Yep, I've been through Cross Plains probably 500 times in my life...either on my way to my sister's house or to my grandmother's house when she was alive.

Several years back, there was a fire out near Baird, Albany, and Clyde that burned between 200,000 and 300,000 acres...but, I think it only destroyed a couple of houses....

[Drbio]

There was a report on our local news of a woman who was fighting the fire with her garden hose and a guy tried to get her to stop and leave (she refused) and he saw the fire engulf her and her house as he drove away.

[Murphy3]

Doc, surely the land can't be less valuable than it was before the fire....

[jthig32]

Man.. that is unreal.

I've been through Cross Plains hundreds of times to and from San Angelo. I actually drove through there the day before the fire, coming back from Christmas. That's really sad.

Wasn't really a wonderful town, but still sad to see such devastation being caused, and a large majority of the people probably dont' have the means to rebuild very well.

[Drbio]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Doc, surely the land can't be less valuable than it was before the fire....

If they repopulate the town it might be more valuable. That will be some seriously nutrient rich soil. Probably the best they have had in years.

[Murphy3]

Yeah...but, speaking from personal experience, that still won't matter. Back in the late 80's, there was a fire just outside of my hometown that burned between 200,000 and 300,000 acres. It did nothing for the value of the land.... not out there..

[jthig32]

You must be from an awfully small town Murph, to be from anywhere close to Cross Plains. Although I guess Coleman isn't just tiny.

[Murphy3]

yes...yes I am from a small town... not much larger than CP was.