Plow Owner Helps Contain Howe Grass Fire - KTEN.com - No One Gets You Closer

Plow Owner Helps Contain Howe Grass Fire

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By Alex Belser, Reporter - email

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GRAYSON COUNTY, TX -- A grass fire spread near Howe when wind came into contact with an illegal burn pile, and a nearby rancher came to the rescue on his plow to help contain the flames.

Farmer Jared Powell says he was busy plowing a field to get ready for planting some grain, when suddenly he left in a big hurry. "My mother called and said a fire was going, it was out of control," says Powell.

Powell along with firefighters from Howe, Sherman, and Tom Bean rushed to Pitchfork Road around 2 p.m. on Saturday. Howe Fire Chief Robert Maniet says a woman was burning limbs when the fire got out of control.

"The people came to the door and told me to call 911 for them, so I did that," says neighbor Peggy Whitfield. "Then I got out and couldn't believe it was already spread everywhere."

Neighbors rushed into action as the fire ate through grass just across the fence from their homes. "We got the water hoses as far as we could, we were trying to spray," says neighbor Jaime Hightower.

Hightower says her kids came in to tell her they smelled something burning, and when she went outside, she saw the flames. "It was moving quick, that's what we were worried about," says Hightower. "It was way down there, and by the time I walked down there, it was already spreading halfway up here."

"My husband just got out and started helping he just wet a throw rug and started beating it along the line," says Whitfield.

In the end, the fire burned about 10 or 15 acres, but firefighters say that could have been worse without Powell's help. By turning up dirt all around the edge of the field, they say he was able to create a fire break.

"The fire has to work twice as hard to jump them, so we are very grateful that he came out here with his plow," says Maniet.

"As long as you keep on the move, it's not going to catch the tires or anything on fire," says Powell. "I was two or three feet away all the time."

Officials say Grayson and Fannin Counties are the only two counties in Texoma still under burn bans.