|
When the Promontory Park Volunteer Fire
Department took possession of two fire trucks (one new and one nearly
new) last month, some folks in the vicinity breathed a sigh of relief.
These trucks, a 2007 Ford and a 2001 Ford, are replacement trucks for
those lost during the New Year’s Day wildfires at Carbon -- more than
a year ago.
 Ray
Helberg, Promontory Park Fire Chief, said that one of the trucks was
destroyed by flames, while another “just quit working” at that fire.
Of the one that burned, Chief Helberg said, “It was completely burned
up. It was gone.”
Three PPVFD firefighters -- Helberg, Rob Autrey and Gene Wilson --
could easily have suffered the same fate that day in a fire that will
go down in area history books as one of the largest and most
destructive.
When looking back on the Carbon fire now, Helberg says that the PPVFD
saw things that day they’d never seen before, including “cattle on
fire and running down the road.” Even though it’s been more than a
year, the memories are still strong for Helberg, especially those of
Autrey being trapped by fast moving flames, and briefly presumed dead.
“I think when the fire came across Hwy 6, it was traveling at 70 miles
per hour...Gorman (fire department) was running from it,” Helberg
said. “They got on their P.A. system and were screaming for us to get
out of there. Rob tried, but it (the fire) rolled over him before he
could get out of there. He couldn’t get out because the fire had
rolled over him and sucked all the oxygen out of the air and the
diesel died -- he had no power. He was in a position where he couldn’t
see. The men using the hose (Gene Wilson and a man known only as
Chris) couldn’t get back to the truck, they were about 75 feet out.
They thought he burned up.”
Helberg, also Comanche County Emergency Management Coordinator, was in
a truck on the other side of Hwy. 6 (along with PPVFD members Keith
Anderson and Don Welch) when he heard over the radio that a man was
down, one of Promontory Park’s men.
“My heart just stopped,” Helberg said. Instead of going away from the
fire, Helberg headed straight in. “I took off over that way, right up
in the smoke. And he came out of the smoke -- ran right in to me.”
When Helberg describes the truck’s condition, it’s easy to understand
why everyone assumed at first that Autrey had died.
“Whenever he bailed out of the truck, the dash was melting and running
in the floor,” Helberg said. “The side panels were on fire -- inside.
He either had to sit there and burn up, or get out of the truck and
burn up. He got out, but he didn’t burn up.”
Autrey, who is retired from law enforcement, told Helberg that he’d
been shot at, stabbed and beat up, but that was the closest he had
ever come to dying. He was quoted, just after the fire, as saying that
Helberg was “an angel sent to me.”
Wilson, who along with Chris had managed to get on a Gorman fire
truck, was quoted just after the fire as saying that he looked back
and saw about a 10 foot wall a fire and said a prayer for Autrey,
“because I thought he was gone.”
Autrey, who sustained second degree burns to his face, is now retired
from the PPVFD, but is one of the department’s reserve members. Wilson
also sustained burns and was treated for smoke inhalation that day.
Although a small department, Promontory is an active one responding
often to mutual aid calls in Comanche, DeLeon, Proctor, Sipe Springs,
Sidney, Blanket and Gustine. They’ve also assisted on calls out of the
county, as they were doing in Carbon. Losing two trucks was a big
blow.
“We had three at the time of the fire,” Helberg said. “We had an old
International pumper and a military two and a half ton, in addition to
the Ford brush truck. We had the two-and-a-half ton at the Carbon
fire, it’s the one that broke down. We were out of a brush truck, all
we had was the old International.”
Another fire department came to the rescue.
“The way we got by,” Helberg said, “is that the West Odessa Volunteer
Fire Department sent us a fire truck to use. It was a Forest Service
truck, and we did get it transferred to us. We still have it. We
didn’t know if FEMA was going to give any money or not,” Helberg said,
“So we requested an emergency grant from the Forest Service for a
truck.”
The Texas Forest Service eventually awarded the PPVFD an emergency
grant.
“That’s what we bought the red brush truck with,” Helberg said. “It’s
a compressed air foam unit. It’s a 2007 Ford. More than a year later,
FEMA finally came through, reimbursing approximately 75 percent of our
loss in the Carbon Fire. That wasn’t counting any of our medical
supplies, though. The black truck, a 2001 Ford, is the one replacing
the one burned that day, a 1997 Ford.”
Due, in part, to the lengthy grant process, The PPVFD took possession
of both trucks at around the same time and the same company was able
to outfit both of them “Rowe Industries out of Hope, Arkansas built
both beds and both units on these trucks,” Helberg said.
It didn’t take long for the new units to see action, with the PPVFD
responding to numerous calls February 24.
“We went to five fires that day,” Helberg said. “Most of those were
started by power lines (due to extremely heavy winds.)
While still in the process of trying to replace their trucks, the
PPVFD held a fundraiser at Cook’s Fish Barn. That’s something they do
every year, but this past year the donations were more important than
ever.
“We’re thankful for the help the community, and everybody in the
county, gave us,” Helberg said. “With their help, we’re still up and
running. And we really want to thank West Odessa. We’re in better
shape now than we were before the Carbon fire.”
In addition to those mentioned above, members of the PPVFD include
Bill Franklin, Mack Courtney, Junior Gerth, Bubba McCurry, Shelby
Swinney, and Jeffrey Anderson, as well as John Weaver, administrator;
Jodi Sedam, secretary; and Barbara Helberg, treasurer. |
