Ben Estlack

The combined efforts of volunteer firefighters and state resources saved lives and property in Donley County last week when a wildfire quickly consumed more than 13,500 acres of drought plagued grass and brush.

The Eight Ball Fire started Tuesday afternoon, February 17, in Armstrong County near Midway between Ashtola and Goodnight on US 287, but driven by hot, dry wind, the wildfire first threatened ranch homes and then headed straight for the community of Howardwick.

Fire Chief Jeremy Powell said the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department was paged out at 2:42 p.m. and within 15 minutes local firemen met the fire at Armstrong County Road 30 to help protect structures there. Powell said the fire got big quickly.

“The National Weather Service has a satellite fire detection system, and it usually takes a while for it to pick up a wildfire,” Powell said. “This time it went off before Claude Fire Department was even rolling.”

Powell said the fire went two miles before it entered Donley County and headed for Howardwick. Volunteer firemen from Howardwick and Hedley had been dispatched soon after Clarendon, and Chief Powell also quickly called for mutual aid from Groom and other Eastern Panhandle counties.

“The fire moved north and east into ranch country, threatening homes on the 3C Ranch and the Roach Ranch then headed for Howardwick,” Powell said.

Powell called for state resources through the Texas A&M Forest Service about 3 p.m. and had ground assets, which has been staged in Childress, on the scene within an hour.

“We got it all quick,” Powell said.

The City of Howardwick was evacuated Tuesday afternoon at 3:29 p.m. and residents were allowed to return at 8:35 p.m. But at 2:18 a.m. on Wednesday the Nocona Hills section of Howardwick on the west side of Carroll Creek was evacuated again along with residents on the south side of Greenbelt Lake, and by 6:15 a.m. the rest of Howardwick was evacuated as fire threatened the community. Most people were allowed to return home by 10:35 a.m., but Nocona Hills residents were not allowed back until 4 p.m.

During the evacuations, local churches, the Donley County Activity Center, and other locations opened up for the evacuees to give them a safe place to wait, and volunteer efforts helped take care of those people as well.

Even with the mutual aid and state help, it was not a quick process to contain the massive fire which eventually stretched over 12 miles in length and was two miles wide at one point. Firefighters, along with Donley and Gray county road graders and a Howardwick road grader, worked through the night and into Wednesday to try to get the fire contained and under control.

“Some of us went a good 30 hours on the line before we pulled off,” Powell said.

Air support could not join the fight during the day Tuesday due to the high winds, and the planes can’t fight fire at night, Powell said. Air tankers arrived by 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to help control the blaze. Three SEATs (Single Engine Air Tankers) operating out of Childress and three VLATs (Very Large Air Tankers) operating out of Abilene began making constant round trips to dump retardant on the Eight Ball Fire.

Powell said “Eight Ball” was a name given to the fire apparently at random.

“I think they just pull it out of a hat; it doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “If we had named it, we probably would have called it the Midway Fire or the Goodnight Rest Area Fire.”

With the help of air support and at least 14 neighboring volunteer fire departments, Powell said the fire was in “pretty good shape by noon Wednesday.”

“We had stopped the forward motion, but we still had volunteers on the scene until Wednesday night,” he said. “Thursday it was mostly Clarendon and Howardwick units on the job, and Friday everything was pretty good with the state resources keeping an eye on it.”

No cause has been determined for the fire.

In addition to numerous Panhandle area volunteer departments, the state resources included Texas Forest Service personnel as well as firemen and EMS from several communities near the Metroplex.

“We distributed the workload with our own assistant chiefs and Howardwick to coordinate efforts,” Powell said. “Neighboring departments usually bring their chiefs who are guys that can take care of situations. We [the volunteer forces] use our equipment in the rough country while the state resources protect structures from the fire.”

One shed in Howardwick was the only structure lost in Donley County, and Powell said the only other structure claimed by the fire was an old homestead that was already falling down in Armstrong County. Livestock fatalities he thinks numbered less than 30 and were mostly in Armstrong County.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn praised those who were on the frontline of the battle, saying the volunteer departments and road hands “worked a miracle.”

Howardwick City Secretary and volunteer firefighter Sandy Childress said her community is forever grateful for all the support given to their citizens and the fire department. She also praised Donley County Dispatcher Deanna Phillips and the other dispatchers for helping coordinate emergency response efforts.

“They worked hand in glove with us and a whole bunch of other agencies,” Childress said. “All you can do is tell people how much you love them and thank the public for their prayers and food and donations. I also want to thank my mayor – Johnny Floyd – who never left my side through it all.”

The Texas Legislature led by State Rep. Ken King of Canadian spent part of its last session working to improve resources for rural fire departments and speed up the response time of state assets. The purpose was to prevent disastrous losses like what occurred when the Smokehouse Creek Fire consumed more than a million acres in the northeastern Panhandle in 2024.

Powell said those changes worked.

“They [Rep. King and the Legislature] have done a good job cutting the red tape,” Powell said. “We got a ton of help fast. It was massive. It was quite evident that they have improved things.

“What we had before was a constant red tape. I had to go through all these hoops to get help. They cut all that out.”
Powell said the state now prioritizes things better now, especially when a wildfire starts moving into a community.

“They didn’t hesitate,” Powell said, “and Ken King called me when it was over last week to see how it all went.”

Powell also praised the Panhandle neighboring fire departments who came to help.

“We are blessed to have the best neighbors, and we could not have done it without them,” he said.

Those departments included: Groom Fire Department, Hoover Fire Department, Pampa Fire Department, Skellytown Fire Department, Lefors Fire Department, McLean Fire Department, Mobeetie Fire Department, Briscoe Fire Department, Allison Fire Department, Wheeler Fire Department, Samnorwood Fire Department, Wellington Fire Department, Memphis Fire Department, and Armstrong County Fire Department.

In addition to mutual aid from the Panhandle, more than 25 fire departments from across the state responded as part of the state’s task force to help battle the fire with helping coming from the areas of Dallas, Lubbock, San Angelo, and Odessa.