Firemen respond to Sunday grass fire

Clarendon and Howardwick volunteer firemen were called into action Sunday afternoon when a downed power line ignited a grass fire near the Greenbelt Dam.

Clarendon Fire Chief Jeremy Powell the departments were paged out about 4:30 p.m. after the AEP/SWEPCO transmission line started a fire on the south side of the Salt Fork of the Red River.

“The fire wasn’t out of control, but it was in a rough area that was hard to get access to,” Powell said.

Howardwick responded with three trucks, and Clarendon’s department had six trucks respond.

The fire burned about 60 acres before being contained by 8:30 that evening, and firemen returned to the station an hour later.

The incident shows that, even with recent rains, high temperatures can create a dangerous situation.

“It’s dry enough that it doesn’t take much to start a fire,” Powell said. “Last week’s 105+ temperatures dried out grass, especially by the highways, so we’re going to be under the fire gun for a while.”