Federal Fire Crews Bring Expertise to Huge West Texas Fire

In firefighting circles, they are considered the best of the best. Hotshots, they’re called — a specially trained assortment of federal firefighters tasked with battling the most stubborn blazes in the most rugged terrain.

Armed with chainsaws and incendiary devices, at least nine of these teams have brought their expertise to West Texas to battle one of the largest wildfires in the state’s history. Fueled by strong winds and extreme drought conditions, the Rock House Fire has burned more than 485 square miles in three weeks and destroyed at least 41 homes and businesses.

The crews’ presence has recently brought calm to the surrounding communities, where banners are hung in appreciation of their efforts. The hotshots, along with support personnel and other firefighters from 32 states, have established firelines in the most crucial areas, including the world-famous McDonald Observatory.

“We are grateful,” says Pat Grubb, one of the volunteers organizing the relief effort for residents affected by the fire. “We would have probably lost more if not for them.”

Dressed in fire retardant gear, yellow hardhats and 45-pound rucksacks, these firefighters have worked on 14-day rotations to build containment lines around the massive blaze. They were called in two days after the fire started to help a Texas firefighting force spread thin from a spate of other wildfires popping up across the vast state.

More than 3,200 square miles have burned in Texas this year as it endures one of its worst droughts in decades.

Each day, the firefighters return to camp smelling of smoke, covered in ash and soot and not in a very talkative mood.

“Lots of walking,” one firefighter says after a long hike.

His crew, the Truckee hotshots from near Lake Tahoe, spent a recent afternoon on mountain terrain feeling the ground with their hands.

“It’s called cold trailing,” and it involves squatting every so many steps to feel if the soil is still warm, says senior firefighter Josh Hernandez. “We had a puffer (a hot spot with smoke) and the lookout let us know, so the division sent a helicopter to drop some buckets on it.”

The next day, the crew conducted a “hot line” — burning lines of grassland and cutting down trees to create a strip of burnt terrain that prevents the fire from spreading. With flares and fuel-filled containers the firefighters set the grass ablaze. Then with hoes, chainsaws and axes they clear the land to contain the fire, which was more than three-quarters surrounded by the weekend.

Formed in the late 1940s in Southern California, the hotshots now have more than 100 crews stationed across the country, many of them in western mountain states. The crews, primarily managed by the U.S. Forest Service, focus mainly on fighting wildfires but have specialized units work on fire prevention. Occasionally they are called to perform search-and-rescue missions and disaster-response duties.

They work with the precision of a military unit. With their top physical condition — members are required to undergo strenuous tests — and unit-specific jargon, they display the cohesiveness found in the most seasoned of crews.

The firefighters work on two-week rotations, camping in the wild or at the base camp, making shaving and showering an unobtainable luxury at times.

Their work began April 11 near the town of Marfa, where locals say it hasn’t rained for many months. Even as they make progress on the Rock House Fire, fire authorities understand these dry conditions increase the chances of another major blaze popping up at any time.

“West Texas is a tinder box”, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Nicole Hawk.

The fire has consumed ranch fences, vast pasture areas and dozens of homes, mostly in Fort Davis, a community of about 1,000 people.

Around town residents have posted signs at restaurants and shops thanking the firefighters and others who donated food, furniture and money to the victims.

One banner outside the town’s courthouse was blown off last week by strong winds — a recurring factor that has made the blaze harder to contain.

Those gusts briefly prompted concern at the nearby McDonald Observatory, where crews installed sprinkler systems in case the wind-driven fires crept up the 6,700-foot high summit and threatened the main buildings housing the telescopes.

With progress coming quickly, crews feel they have put the observatory and communities out of imminent danger.