A 500-acre fire scorched pastures in the western part of Love County for hours on Friday, leaving fields and even some cattle burned. “Everybody was frantic, because it was coming towards the houses,” said Criner Hills Volunteer Fire Department Chief Michael Campbell. “When I got there, there was a house that was in danger.”
More than 17 departments from four counties were involved in fighting the blaze, as it grew quickly from 15 acres. “The fire was gone; I mean, that’s how fast it was going,” said Jack Morgan, owner of Morgan Charolais Cattle. “I’ve never seen anything move that fast.”
The fire happened in the middle of the day, and as Campbell explained, that’s when most volunteer firefighters aren’t available. “Some trucks only had one guyโฆ you know, most of your tankers had one guy,” the chief said. Also, the water supply was insufficient in that area, making it difficult to fight the flames.
“There was wind that dayโฆ over 20 mile-an-hour gustsโฆ kind of the perfect storm,” Campbell said. “Humidity was low, and once it got started, there was no stopping it, really.” Morgan’s home was right in the fire’s path, burning a few of his cows. “They were probably 200 yards from the house when they got burnt,” said Morgan.
The female cows were pregnant, but will never be able to nurse a calf again due to their udders being severely burned. “That’s three calves that I’ve been waiting for over a year on, and I had them artificial bred, and I’m out a bunch on that,” Morgan said. All but four acres of Morgan’s land was charred, along with some hay, leaving the livestock food supply low. “We run into a situation where we won’t have enough hay now. It’s very expensive, hay is,” said Morgan.
Campbell believes spring rain produced more vegetation than usual, and that โ in turn โ could lead to a challenging wildfire season. “This fire is probably only the beginning,” the chief said.
