Late into the evening of Friday, March 14, multiple fire departments, first responders, and several civilians were crucial aides to a natural cover fire with an approximate size estimated at 750 acres around the area of County Road 4090 and 4060. According to Dent County Fire Protection District (DCFPD), two homes, four vehicles, and two outbuildings were lost. No injuries or fatalities were reported from the fire. The fire began at approximately 4:30 p.m. First responders were working on the fire until a little after 11 p.m.
The fire was extinguished by the rainfall of the storm the same evening and closely monitored.
Thanks were given to responders from Lenox Rural Fire Department, Jadwin Volunteer Fire Department, Montauk Rural Fire Department, the Dent County Sheriff's Office and MDC for their efforts during the fire.
According to Derrick Marfitt, Emergency Management Director, the fire was one of the worst natural cover fires he’d encountered within his 18 years of work with the DCFPD. According to Marfitt, the fire was reported as a controlled burn that had gotten out of control, unhelpfully furled on by the gusts of the storm front. At one point, Marfitt measured the wind going at 63 miles an hour. This was picking up embers of the fire and dropping them 100 yards away, contributing to the spread.
“It was the worst natural cover fire that I’ve been on—just the amount of resources required and the amount of pure exhaustion on everyone’s face,” explained Marfitt.
Two vehicles of DCFPD’s fleet remain out of service after the event.
The mobile command post, Rescue 8026, was brought out to coordinate with mutual aid. During the midst of the events, the vehicle began having problems—to put it mildly.
“It locked up our AC compressor, which then torched the belts, and then somewhere in between all of that, it also caused the water pump to spin backwards, which then blew up our reservoir,” explained Marfitt, who stated the vehicle had to be left on a citizen’s property and towed the following day.
“It’s a huge, huge blow, because it is our multi-purpose vehicle,” said Marfitt. “It does hazmat response, command post capabilities, things of that nature. But it also houses our cascade system. It is our only measure of, while we’re on a scene, that is able to refill our air packs. So now we have no ability to fill up our air packs on a scene.”
Marfitt further explained that now firefighters have to pray and hope that they have enough air on scene before having to wait to get back to the station to refill them.
On top of this, Truck 8028 remains out of service. After arriving back at the station, it was discovered, while putting the trucks back in service and checking fluids, that one of the two batteries on the truck was swollen and leaking. A different battery was placed in the truck but was unsuccessful in starting. More diagnostic work will be completed to figure out the rest of the issues.
“People say, ‘these trucks still run and drive!’—yes, but it’s not the truck that’s the problem. It’s the equipment that’s on it, but they no longer make the stuff that needs replaced,” said Marfitt.
Marfitt further commended the amount of folks that offered to assist during the fire event and the storm. He shared that plenty of assistance was received from the wives of the firefighters who were hard at work organizing back at the station and ensuring the firefighters had plenty to drink. Civilians were coming out and offering equipment, and a family of Mennonites showed up to assist as well.
“That’s one of the reasons I do what I do,” said Marfitt, “because when we can work together as a team and come together on something like that—we can make any disaster a much less effective disaster.”
