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Firemen battle Maryneal blaze |
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Written by Ron Howell
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Wednesday, 30 January 2008 |
A large and fast-moving grass fire that consumed about 200 acres broke out in Maryneal on Tuesday morning.
The blaze, fueled by strong winds that exceeded 40 miles per hour and recent dry conditions, began just south of the Maryneal cement plant and forced many in the small community to evacuate their homes while traffic in the area was detoured.
The fire, which was called in at 10:10 a.m., burned at least two structures and contributed to the injury of two firefighters before it was finally contained about three hours later.
One of the burned structures was an old building which once was a grocery store and gas station but more recently was used for storage.
However, responders on the numerous fire trucks at the scene — which came from departments in Sweetwater, Maryneal, Nolan, Roscoe, Robert Lee, Bronte, Trent, Roby and Rotan as well as the cement plant and a private firm in Snyder — were able to contain the blaze before the city's nearby post office and residential homes were damaged.
Also responding to the scene were officials with the Nolan County Sheriff's Department, the Department of Public Safety, the area Red Cross office and the Texas Forestry Service.
Two area schools were temporarily placed on alert on Tuesday after the fire began. Blackwell school officials were notified that an evacuation might be necessary, and officials at Highland were told their school might be needed as a temporary shelter for resi-dents forced to evacuate their homes. Neither action proved necessary, however.
Two volunteer firefighters, believed to be a man and his grandson, were injured shortly after responding to the fire. The accident happened when an 18-wheeler driver whose vision was impaired by the thick smoke rear-ended their truck, according to Nolan County Sheriff's Chief Deputy David Warren. One of the firefighters was thrown off the top of the truck and broke his arm, while the other was taken to the hospital with a head and eye injury, Warren said. Both men, whose names were not immediately available, were treated for minor injuries.
Emergency vehicles began arriving on the scene shortly after the initial call and all of them stayed for nearly three hours, according to Sweetwater fire chief Grant Madden, who said the cause of the blaze may have been electrical. He said the fire was about 70 or 80 percent contained by 1:15 p.m., but that most of the trucks at the scene didn't begin leaving until a couple of hours later.
Madden said the firefighters did an "excellent job" of saving the post office and nearby homes from being destroyed.
With dangerous high winds expected to continue for the next few days, Madden said some units would be returning to the area today as a precautionary measure while the investigation into the cause of the blaze continues.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 31 January 2008 )
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