Firemen fight three blazes

Several homes were threatened Friday afternoon, November 28, when a grassfire raged through a portion of the Howardwick community.

Fire Chief Joe Hall said the cause of the fire near Dawn and Bell remains under investigation but the damage to property was extensive.

Three boat docks were destroyed, and fourth one was damaged by the fire, which spread across five properties and endangered six homes.

Hall said firefighters were on the scene for six hours Friday, and they returned on Saturday and Sunday to put out hotspots.

The Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department assisted with the fire with eight men and five units.

Another fire was reported at Howardwick Monday in the 500 block of Nocona Hills. Hall said a fire started in the attic of a residence where a stovepipe goes through the ceiling.

Clarendon also assisted Howardwick firemen with that incident, and Hall said the house suffered mostly smoke and water damage.

Hall extended his thanks to the Clarendon department and the Clarendon Firebelles for their assistance, and he reminds everyone that burning is prohibited in the Howardwick city limits. Barbecuing is permitted in gas grills only, he said.

New technology helped save thousands of dollars in damage during a cotton module fire Sunday, according to the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department.

Fire Chief Jeremy Powell said his department and Hedley firefighters were paged at about 8:43 a.m. to the property farmed by Bubba Newhouse on acreage owned by Jay O’Brien north of Hedley.

Powell said the cause of the blaze was unknown. Twenty-two cotton modules were involved in the fire, and four modules were a total loss at a cost of about $4,500 each, he said.

The Clarendon department’s thermal camera proved very valuable during the fire. The device was used to find unseen hot spots within the modules so they could be dug out and extinguished.

“That camera made in the difference in losing four modules instead of 20,” Powell said.

Volunteers fought the fire for about seven hours on Sunday, and Hedley firemen were still on the scene Tuesday morning, keeping a watch for any smoldering that might flare up.