Breckenridge Texan

By Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

On Monday evening, Aug. 12, the instrument panel in Stephens County Judge Michael Roach’s pickup showed 105 degrees outside as he pulled into a hanger at the Stephens County airport, where pallets of bottled drinking water were stacked. Roach and Precinct 2 County Commissioner Mark McCullough jumped out of the truck and started loading cases of the water into the back of the truck to take to the firefighters battling a wildfire in the northern part of the county.

Flames burn dry brush on the side of FM 701 as a vehicle drives by on Monday evening, Aug. 12. Click here to see a photo gallery from the fire. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Just a few hours earlier they had been in the Stephens County Commissioners’ regular meeting and voted to continue a county-wide fire ban with additional restrictions on outdoor activities, such as welding and grinding at the recommendation of Stephens County Fire Marshal Wayne McMullen. Not long after the meeting concluded, they were organizing emergency support for the army of firefighters battling five wildfires in the county throughout the day.

According to a report by the Texas A&M Forest Service early Tuesday morning, Aug. 13, the Robertson Fire had burned 1,400 acres and was 55% contained after crews worked late into the night creating a containment line.

In addition to battling the large Robertson Fire on FM 701 – which had three different active fire areas going – on Monday Breckenridge firefighters were also fighting a wildfire on the west side of Hubbard Creek Lake near the water pumping station. At 5:45 p.m., smoke from that fire could be seen billowing in the air from the Walmart parking lot. Earlier in the day, there had also been another fire on County Road 187 in the southern part of the county; several large hay bales were set on fire from sparks by a cutting torch.

Helping fight the Stephens County fires on Monday were the Breckenridge Fire Department, Hubbard Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Wayland VFD, Caddo VFD, Eliasville VFD, Newcastle VFD, Salt Creek VFD and the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, including a Chinook helicopter and several other firefighting helicopters and airplanes. Also assisting with the situation were the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Department of Transportation and several Stephens County officials. Additionally, volunteers from the community donated water, pizza and sandwiches to those fighting the fires.

County Judge Michael Roach, right, and Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark McCullough load up cases of water for firefighters. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

On Monday evening, after Roach and McCullough picked up the water, they were off to Walmart for ice and ice chests, then to the Courthouse to drop McCullough at his parked vehicle so he could head back to the airport and coordinate the refueling of firefighting aircraft that were battling three of the wildfires that comprised the Robertson fire in North Stephens County along FM 701. Along the way, Roach called in orders for pizzas at Little Caesars Pizza that Justice of the Peace Steve Spoon took to the Robertson Fire command center on FM 701.

Shortly after 6 p.m. at the intersection of FM 701 and State Highway 67, a line of large Texas A&M Forest Service trucks, pulling trailers with bulldozers loaded on them, drove into a field along a tree line. As crews prepared to unload and deploy the tractors, in the hazy sky above the tree line a helicopter appeared, flying through the billowing smoke with a bucket of water to drop on a fire target below. On the scene, Roach met McMullen and dropped off ice chests full of iced down bottles of water for those working in the heat and smoke.

County Judge Michael Roach delivered ice chests filled with iced bottles of water to Fire Marshal Wayne McMullen on the scene of the Robertson Fire on Monday evening. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

As Roach continued driving north on FM 701, along the south side of the road, orange flames burned the brush below mesquite and oak trees. Occasionally flames shot up through the trees on the side of the road, reaching heights of 20 feet in the air. In several areas, the grassy shoulders were blackened, and in some places the grass on both sides of the road was charred, where the fire had jumped the road before it was stopped.

Further up the road, members of the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System strike team set backfires on the west side of the road to keep the wildfire from spreading and jumping the highway. A convoy of three fire trucks from the Hubbard Creek Volunteer Fire Department, each with firefighters riding on back, made its way down the highway. As they drove through the flames and smoke, it looked more like a scene from a warzone than a summer evening in Stephens County, Texas.

Helicopters ferrying water rumbled off in the distance as they made their way toward the fire. The sky was smoky and hazy with patches of orange flames shooting out from the brush along the way. On the west side of FM 701, in thick brush, blanketed with deep smoke and leaping flames, an Eliasville Volunteer Fire Department fire truck slowly crept along. Barely visible with the flames and sun behind him, a firefighter stood on the side of the truck, spraying the fire.

Firefighters from multiple agencies and fire departments converged in Stephens County on Monday to help fight a large wildfire in the northern part of the county. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

At the fire operation’s command center, which had been set up at a ranch house on FM 701, an array of emergency and transport vehicles filled the parking area near the stables. Firefighters refueled their trucks and filled the pumps on their trucks with water from large water tank trucks that were parked there. Some horses in the stables were jittery and nervous, especially when one of the helicopters came low to drop off its water buck attachment for the night, its whirling propeller throwing dust into the smoke-filled hazy sky.

At 8:05 p.m., on the other side of the county, Roach pulled in at the pumping station area at Lake Hubbard Creek, delivering another order of pizzas to the firefighters there. The fire was still burning but appeared to be under control. According to firefighters at the scene, there were still three trucks and a bulldozer on the scene.

Breckenridge firefighter Jose Garcia, his face covered in soot from battling the fire pulled in, grabbed a slice of pizza, and then he and Breckenridge firefighter Jon Jackson refilled his truck with water from the bigger pumper at the scene. Then, Garcia headed back into the smoke and flames as the sun slowly began to slip below the horizon.

Click here to see the Breckenridge Texan’s Photo Gallery from Monday’s firefighting efforts.

Breckenridge Fire Department firefighter Jose Garcia heads back into the flames as he battles a fire at Hubbard Creek Lake on Monday, Aug. 12. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Firefighters from the Eliasville VFD drive through the smoke, putting out flames, as they help battle the Robertson Fire on Monday, Aug. 12. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

A helicopter drops off its bucket at the Robertson Fire command center after helping fight the wildfire on Monday, Aug. 12. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Flames burn just below the treeline at Hubbard Creek Lake on Monday evening. Five wildfires burned in Stephens County on Aug. 12. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: The Hubbard Creek VFD travels down FM 701 in north Stephens County on their way to another section of the Robertson Fire. The fire started as three separate wildfires along the farm-to-market road. Click here to see more photos. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)