San Angelo Fire Chief Updates City Council on Panhandle Fires

SAN ANGELO, TX - San Angelo Fire Chief Patrick Brody gave an update on the fires ravaging the panhandle.

The update was given at the San Angelo City Council meeting held today, March 5. 

He said that the department initially sent a single “Strike Team" on Sunday, Feb. 25, which was staged in a city called Childress, about 200 miles from the fire. 

On Monday, when the fire excessively broke out, the team was immediately dispatched to the town of Canadian.

Since then, an additional brush truck with four personnel and two additional engine bosses was also sent. The local Texas Forest Service office in San Angelo also was sent to the blaze.

“We have a strong presence of San Angelo, represented in the panhandle,” Brody said.

Altogether, San Angelo has 10 personnel battling the blaze. When it comes to the fire itself, there is a total of 323 personnel along with air support. 

“They're beginning to get a handle on this situation,” Brody said, mentioning that the fire is at 55 percent containment. 

The total acres burned according to the fire chief is “a little over” 1,076,000, making it the largest grass fire in Texas history and the second largest in the United States.

The Fire Chief said that the crews are stationed between Skellytown and Borger.

The crews are covering “Stenet all the way to Pampa.”

Last Friday, Brody received an email from the community of Canadian, specifically from the Texas Municipal Police Association.

“I just wanted to pass along this message from the citizens of Canadian, Texas,” the email read. “I was advised that if the San Angelo Fire Department did not arrive when they did, there was a strong belief that the community would be an entire loss. They advised their volunteers that they did not have the resources or manpower to continue protecting the town when the wind shifted and began moving fire on them in two directions.

"But said that the San Angelo Fire Department arrived with little time to spare and began to hold the lines to keep this from being a much larger loss," the email continued. "The citizens I spoke with were extremely appreciative of San Angelo’s response and efforts to stop the fire from causing any worse loss to the community.”