come to anyone but McGough – it was
of warm, dry, unstable air that is pushed
missing. The livestock were nowhere to
ahead of the cold front. The leading edge of
be found. McGough had the clothes on
this wedge generally is referred to as a dry-
her back, her purse and her car – not a
line.
thing more. “It was amazing,” she said.
The high-impact weather that exists in
“One minute you have everything then
this wedge between the cold front and the
all of a sudden, nothing.”
dryline brings strong southwest winds,
Wildfires that ignite during a Southern
above-normal temperatures and very dry
Plains Wildfire Outbreak are considered a
air or low relative humidity. - 2011 Texas
true force of nature. Occurring mostly in
Wildfires
the winter and spring, weather conditions
On April 9, 2011, when McGough
must be just right for these massive and
made her monthly pilgrimage to Alpine
destructive fires — or groups of fires —
to get her nails done, the conditions for
that often last all day and can’t be stopped
a Southern Plains Outbreak had aligned.
by firefighters. When an outbreak occurs,
The relative humidity was in the low
the weather is truly in control. Aggressive
teens and the winds were high with gusts
firefighting techniques
even higher. That day,
don’t work. The only
an electrical fire started
thing you can do is
in an abandoned house
move people out of
in Marfa. While in
harm’s way. - 2011
Alpine,
McGough
Texas Wildfires
heard on the radio that
The Fort Davis
the fire was spreading
Volunteer
Fire
and headed to Fort
Department had gone
Davis, so she jumped
to Marfa to fight the
in her car and raced
fire there before it
home. She had two
jumped north. The
dogs in a pen outside
only reason there were
next to the house, a cat
any houses left on
inside, and livestock
Front Street at all,
out in the pasture,
McGough said, is
including two calves
because those people
on the ground and
Photo courtesy of G inger Fisher
McG ough
ignored the evacua-
three more on the way.
tion order and fought
Some reports say
the fire themselves with the help of the
the fire, which would later be known as
Valentine Volunteer Fire Department.
the Rockhouse Fire – the third largest
Once the electricity went out, however
wildfire in Texas history -- traveled at an
(the power poles had burned up), the
average of six miles per hour, some say
water went off after the 30 or 40 min-
higher. Word on the pasture that day
utes of residual pressure ran out.
was that a huge wall of fire stormed from
At a friend’s house that night, where
Marfa to Fort Davis in 20 minutes, a
McGough stayed for the first couple of
distance of around 30 miles. Whatever
nights, she looked out the second-story
the speed, the flames, driven by high
window to a smoky view of pieces of the
winds and fueled by dry grassland, were
town still burning. She thought, “What
a good bet to win the race. By the time
would daddy think?” The next morning,
McGough got to Fort Davis, the
she looked out the same window and
Sheriff’s office was evacuating the town
there he was. Hat cocked to one side,
and wouldn’t let her in.
her father sat on one of the few remain-
Five-and-a-half long hours McGough
ing fences, taking in the destruction.
waited on the outskirts and watched as
“I’m so sorry, Daddy,” Ginger said
the runaway fire burned and jumped
between her tears. He looked up at her
through her town. When it went up the
and said, “It’s ok baby, you didn’t do it.”
mountain in search of more fuel and she
Then he disappeared. “It was the most
was finally allowed to go into her prop-
amazing thing,” she said, “It’s the only
erty, the house was gone, the barn was
time I’ve ever seen my dad since he died.
gone, and the hundred-year-old
The neat part was that my kids always
Cottonwood trees were gone, exploded
thought that the house was haunted, but
in a blaze of color normally reserved for
I would tell them it was ok, that all the
fall. Only an old tool shed half-stood in
ghosts were family.”
the midst of the smoke and ash.
McGough said she felt her father
Someone had picked up the dogs a cou-
throughout the ordeal, a calming pres-
ple hours after the fire started, but the
ence in a time of terrible trauma. Her
cat was a one-woman cat and wouldn’t
brother came the next morning to help
salvage through the remnants of the
house and for moral support. As the sib-
lings sifted through the ash, McGough
credits her father with helping them find
what they needed in the old tool shed,
where he kept his tools. It was a vast, dis-
ordered assortment of old and new,
McGough said, but 24 times they found
exactly what they needed. In the barber-
shop side of the house on the north wall
they found a cross, untouched by fire.
Ginger said it was amazing – she found
every cross she had in the house. “This
was an event that made me know that
God was in our lives,” she said.
The shock and denial of such a trau-
matic event can be disabling, and there
are hundreds of decisions that must be
made – even making choices for simple
things like a new pair of socks can be
overwhelming. A friend came from
Comstock and led McGough around by
the hand for two weeks. “The thing that
really got me the most was I had no
makeup or toothbrush,” she said. “A
friend who knows I don’t go out without
makeup brought me a bag of it.” Her sis-
ter-in-law brought her a suitcase full of
stuff and inside was her favorite body
spray. “This little thing – it made me
cry.”
The dogs stayed in Alpine with her
friend because she felt that Fort Davis
was too traumatic. “It was black, it was
smoke, and it was wind. It was atro-
cious.” One of the dogs succumbed to
pneumonia brought on by smoke
inhalation a month after the fire and the
other one passed (much later) from ken-
nel cough, most likely due to the fire. “I
looked for my cat for a year,” McGough
said, “but never even found any bones.
She didn’t have any front claws so I don’t
think she would have gotten far.”
The phoenix stirred in the ashes, and
life began to get on with itself.
McGough found her livestock three
days later, all accounted for. Although
many lost cattle and horses, McGough
wasn’t the only one with surviving live-
stock, and feed, hay and supplies came
in by the truckloads. The empty build-
ing by the post office was turned into a
‘furnishings store’ of sorts and donations
poured in. People who had lost every-
thing were called to come get things. “I’d
get a call and they’d say, ‘Ginger we have
two truckloads here for you.’ Just for
me. It was amazing. Dining room suites,
couches, beds, etc. People from all over
brought stuff.”
McGough was off work from her job
at Texas Parks & Wildlife for two weeks
before going back. Due to the age and
condition of the house, homeowner’s
insurance had been unaffordable. The
electrical wiring was old and unsafe and
although it needed a new roof, no roof-
ing company would give her a quote due
to all the different levels and styles pres-
ent. “It was tough, but I just had to work
through it,” she said.
A friend of McGough’s had an apart-
ment on their property and allowed
McGough to stay and pay only utilities
for a year. A fire fund was set up in
which everyone got the same amount.
McGough ordered a house from San
Angelo and her portion was enough to
pay for half of the house. She got a dis-
aster loan from SBA. Her coworkers at
TPWD gave her money, assistance, and
clothes. “People gave me cards and
money all the time,” she said. “The out-
pouring of love and money was so amaz-
ing to me,” she said. “When you don’t
think you have any friends at all, then
you’re surrounded by love and kindness.
It wouldn’t have been possible to recover
without my friends’ and communities’
help, Fort Davis, Alpine, Odessa. It was
cool the way everybody came together
for the victims of the fire.”
As of February 27, 2018, over 75% of
Texas was experiencing some form of
drought from “Abnormally Dry to
Extreme Drought,” according to
drought.gov. As torrential downpours
and record droughts become more com-
monplace, the boom and bust cycles of
severe weather will continue to be a part
of West Texas life, perhaps of all life on
Earth. However, people and communi-
ties can make defensible spaces and put
preventive measures in place to be better
prepared for wildfire. In Fort Davis, for
example, grant funds obtained by com-
munity leaders were used to upgrade the
water system, and Reverse 911 was
implemented.
“Some of it’s really hard to remember,
and some of it I’d like to forget,”
McGough said. “You think you can’t
live without material things but you can.
All the family antiques, my grandma’s
crocheted items...now I have to stop and
think when I say I have something –
before the fire or after?”
For more information on wildfire &
mitigation:
http://tfsweb.tamu.edu/
WildlandUrbanInterfacePrograms
Download the PDF cited in this article
here:
http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu/
uploadedFiles/TFSMain/Preparing_for_Wil
dfires/Prepare_Your_Home_for_Wildfires/Co
ntact_Us/2011%20Texas%20Wildfires.pdf
Cenizo
Second Quarter 2018
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