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A Ring of Fire Leads to a Circle of Hope
Written by
Anita Foster
, Special to RedCross.org
Friday, December 30, 2005 — CROSS PLAINS, Texas – Travel throughout the charred remains of communities across the state of Texas, and you’ll see a similar picture – piles of ashes where homes once stood, unrecognizable heirlooms littering the landscape and families wondering what to do next. But you’ll also experience an undeniable spirit of humanity as communities come together to embrace those who have lost so much.
Two days after Christmas, wildfires raged across the southern states of Texas and Oklahoma, wreaking havoc on human lives and property. With extreme drought conditions, temperatures in the low 80s and wind gusts upwards of 30 mph, the dried out landscape brewed up a recipe for disaster.
Wilburn "Tex" Herring reflects on his losses at a Red Cross Service Center in Cross Plains, Texas.
(Photo Credit: Gene Dailey/American Red Cross)
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Wilburn “Tex” Herring, age 69, from the small town of Cross Plains, Texas, knows all too well what fire does – and doesn’t – leave behind. Sitting at an American Red Cross Service Center at the Cross Plains Baptist Church, Herring reflected on the devastating wildfires.
“All of our history is gone,” said Herring. “Our memories. Our pictures. The antiques my wife collected. Everything is simply gone.”
With tears in his eyes and his daughter and 26-year-old son, Shaun, by his side, Herring recounted the night the wildfire reduced his home to ashes.
“I tried to get back to my house when I heard about the fire, but the law enforcement officials wouldn’t let me through,” said Herring. “It was so dangerous that my son and I didn’t get to our house until the next day. There just aren’t words to describe what we saw. The smoke was so thick that we couldn’t see anything in front of us. We kept looking for our house. It’s really strange not to be able to find your house when you’ve seen it in the same place for the past 15 years. When we finally got close enough, it was covered in a blanket of fire.”
As long as 24 hours after the fires swept through the town of just over 1,000 residents, flames were still about 4 feet high at the Herring home.
“I’ve seen bad fires in my time, but nothing compares to this,” said Herring. “This is a total loss.”
And, he has seen his share of loss. As a young man, he cradled his 18-month-old baby girl in his arms as she breathed her last breath. As the years wore on, Herring suffered the loss of his 39-year-old son, two grandchildren and one great grandchild. Just over a year ago, he buried his beloved wife of 45 years.
“My wife collected antiques from the mid-to-late 1800s and ceramic dolls,” Herring recounted. “I did manage to save one or two of the dolls from the rubble.”
His son, Shaun, laments the loss of the irreplaceable family pictures, like the one of him when he lost his first tooth.
“We just can’t replace those,” said Shaun, who has vowed to save every penny that he can to help his father re-build.
Just up the road from the Herring’s once stood a majestic, historic home owned by Tom Potter. His parents bought the house in 1941 and it’s been in the family ever since. As an employee of the local gas company, Potter was called to duty the night the fires raged. Cross Plains is a town that runs primarily on gas and, with a ring of fire around the town, Potter was charged with shutting off the gas to the city as quickly as possible. Little did he know that the gas meter he was headed for would lead him to a devastating sight.
“When I raced in to turn off the gas, the meter was right across from my house,” said Potter. “The flames were enormous and as far as you could see. I knew right then and there that my house was gone, but I couldn’t think about that at the time. I had to get the gas turned off before this disaster became even worse.”
Extreme drought, warm temperatures and wind gusts fueled wildfires in Texas shortly after Christmas, reducing 149 homes to rubble. (Photo Credit: Gene Dailey/American Red Cross)
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Potter put the thoughts of his burning house out of his mind and continued his job, ensuring that the residents of Cross Plains were safe. Two days later, standing on his three-acre lot with a rake in one hand and his young grandson at his side, Potter was trying to save what he could. The fire was so hot that appliances like the refrigerator and oven were left unrecognizable, and bed frames were shaped like melted pretzels. A pile of ashes made a perfect outline of where his home once stood. As Potter walked around his property, he reminded himself that it’s just “stuff.”
The physical losses in Cross Plains, Kennedale, Granbury, Arlington and Colleyville, Texas, are easy to count in numbers: 149 family homes destroyed, one church burned to the ground and thousands of automobiles and barns gone. But, the human loss is incalculable.
At the Cross Plains Baptist Church, Senior Pastor Ronnie White and his staff are busy planning a funeral service for one of their congregation members.
“Eleven of our church families have lost their homes,” said White. “And one of our families has lost a loved one.”
White understands that he can’t replace all of the things that people lost, nor can he say the right words to bring comfort, but he can be a shoulder to lean on by simply opening the doors to his church, encouraging his volunteers and being there for these families during their darkest hour.
The American Red Cross, in partnership with the Cross Plains Baptist Church, provides help to those burned out of their homes in Cross Plains, Texas.
(Photo Credit: Gene Dailey/American Red Cross)
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“We call it our ‘Howdy Ministry’,” said White. “We just let people know that we care.”
While talking with the Senior Pastor, his cell phone rang non-stop. Each phone call was from a friend or loved one who wanted to know how they could help. White is not at all surprised by this outpouring of compassion from the people of Cross Plains or anywhere else.
“Disasters pull people together and they bring us closer to our own mortality,” said White. “We hurt deeply for those who lost their homes and those who lost their loved ones, yet we’re reminded to reach out to our neighbors and friends when they’re in need.”
The employees of Higginbotham’s Hardware & Lumber know what it means to reach out to help. Their volunteers pulled up to the Red Cross shelter in Cross Plains with an over-sized grill and cooked up some 200 mesquite-grilled hamburgers for fire victims and emergency workers.
“We like to serve our customers and our community,” said Geneva Weaver, director of marketing for Higgenbotham’s.
Tom Potter receives help from the American Red Cross as he begins the task of cleaning up what this December wildfire destroyed.
(Photo Credit: Gene Dailey/American Red Cross)
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Disasters do bring people closer together, and they bring us full circle. Tex Herring has donated to the Red Cross many times over the years, but he never expected to be on the receiving end of aid from the Red Cross.
“You people at the Red Cross, and everywhere around here, have bent over backwards to help us,” said Herring. “This fire has caused our finances to be low, so this is very helpful. The Red Cross really does understand what we’re going through and they’ve helped us with moral and physical support by listening to our stories, feeding us, helping us with money and dropping off the food and water at our house.”
Herring credits the “good Lord above,” the Red Cross and the good people at Cross Plains Baptist Church for easing his suffering.
“You never think you’ll need help, but when you do, there you are. We’re very thankful.”
Tom Potter never expected to see a Red Cross worker walking across his property and promising to help him replace his work clothes, along with other needed items. He had a hard time believing that the Red Cross would be able to help, but no doubt, Potter is now a believer.
Ironically, Senior Pastor White once served as the disaster chairman for the Red Cross in Young County, Texas. He’s responded to his share of single family house and apartment fires, helping individual families burned out by fire. Now, he extends a warm hand to his entire community and graciously keeps the church doors open around the clock so that the Red Cross has a place to provide hot meals, financial assistance and safe shelter to a community in desperate need.
Anita J. Foster is the Metroplex Communications Officer for the American Red Cross in Dallas/Fort Worth.
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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