THE ROCK HOUSE FIRE

Cattle trying to stay ahead of the flames.

Fires in the Western US are serious business.  Most of the fires we hear about are in California...or Colorado or sometimes in Arizona but this Rock House Fire burned from April 9, 2011 well into May.  It hit the town of Fort Davis very hard and will always be remembered as what can happen in the heat of summer especially when the winds fail to cooperate.

The Rock House fire is so named as it started in what is known as the "old Rock House" in Marfa, Texas, some 28 miles south and west of Fort Davis.   Before the Marfa volunteer fire department could be on scene at the Rock House, the 55MPH winds that day pushed the fire across Texas Highway 90 and the fire began its deadly march North.   Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The landscape between Marfa and Fort Davis is relatively flat, high plain with lots of grass and brush to fuel a charging fire.  To the left you can see what the fire did to several thousand acres as it roared north from Marfa.

Texas Highway 118 runs north from Fort Davis up past the McDonald Observatory complex and ultimately to the town of Kent on Interstate 10.  This road is very mountainous as you can see from the photo, making the fire much more difficult to contain.  In this photo crews from many different towns began to set up head quarter operations in Fort Davis State Park and tried to determine how best to stop the rampaging firestorm headed its way.

The folks at the observatory were obviously very worried as they watched the fire creep up and over the Davis Mountains south of them.   A control burn to eliminate fuel for the fire ultimately kept the fire from reaching the observatory.

This photo dramatically shows what it is like for the firefighters in the trenches.  It is a dirty, difficult and very dangerous job to get right into the center of the "raging inferno" as these guys did.



The Rock House fire burned more than 300,000 acres of Presidio and Jeff Davis counties....some 500 square miles!   It took 5 weeks to totally have it contained.   It destroyed 24 homes and 2 businesses...and killed herds of cattle and 4 horses.  As it marched north it also burned miles of ranch fences, making it difficult to round up the animals that did survive.   It was only 3 years ago...which is why it remains very fresh in the minds of Fort Davis residents.   The good news is there were no human fatalities.   

Kudos to groups like the Flagstaff (Arizona) Hotshots who came several hundred miles to offer professional assistance.

This satellite photo shows the fire damage....north to south over 50 miles of destruction.   Let's hope the ongoing dry conditions in the area do not make for another such disaster.   On a personal note, we have a fellow coming in this weekend to do what is known as a "fire cut" on the 5 acres we just purchased.   The fire cut bush hogs down all grasses and removes all brush within 150 feet of any structures.  I told him today to go out to 200 feet just to be sure.