1950 County Fire was Crippling Disaster
A fast-moving fire that started on the Coon Ranch south of Dumas in 1950 went in record books as one of the most-crippling disasters suffered by Panhandle ranchers and farmers.
The fire ruined 115 square miles, blackened pastures, left dead and singed cattle, burned feed piles and left barns and feed lots in rubble. One firefighter, Sunray fire chief Leroy Little, lost his life and another Sunray firefighter, Fred Carter, was badly burned.
The first started Monday afternoon, March 6, and was not brought under control until the late hours of Tuesday. Winds were 40-50 miles an hour and drove the flames as high as 25 feet in the air.
The first call was answered by the Dumas Fire Department reporting the blaze four miles south and east of the city dump. As the fire spread, fire departments from Sunray, Cactus, Dalhart, and several of the industrial plants joined the fight. State highway patrolmen, city and county officers joined the efforts as did farmers and ranchers.
Several thousand Moore County residents were directly in the path of the blaze as it raced across parts of the Coon Ranch, J A Ranch, Taylor Ranch and Sneed Ranch. It covered more than half of the 80,000 acres of the Sneed Flying A Ranch. Hay stacks and a barn containing a prize Jersey bull were destroyed on the G. L. Troutman farm.
The blaze cut a path nearly 12 miles long and averaged four miles wide from three miles south of Dumas to nine miles east and two miles north of town. It leaped over State Highway 152 four miles east of town.
A Boxwell ambulance going east to rescue the invalid mother of Miss Jewel Foster had to turn back because the smoke and dust was so thick. Morris Morrison, the ambulance driver found it impossible to find the turn-off. He got more specific directions and went back into the fire again. The fire had burned just east of the Foster home so the danger had passed. Mrs. Foster had been moved to the basement of the home.
Two cars coming from Stinnett to Dumas on State Highway 152 had accidents. Occupants were picked up by other vehicles and brought to Dumas.
Winds kept increasing until it was impossible to stand. An article in the March 9, 1950, Moore County News reported, "The men must have been approaching the breaking point... the elements and man's greatest enemy -- fire -- seemed to have the day won... when the wind hesitated, caught its breath and stopped shortly before 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Then, turned direction and started a burning flank running south of Dumas northeastward for some 20 miles."
The fire ruined 115 square miles, blackened pastures, left dead and singed cattle, burned feed piles and left barns and feed lots in rubble. One firefighter, Sunray fire chief Leroy Little, lost his life and another Sunray firefighter, Fred Carter, was badly burned.
The first started Monday afternoon, March 6, and was not brought under control until the late hours of Tuesday. Winds were 40-50 miles an hour and drove the flames as high as 25 feet in the air.
The first call was answered by the Dumas Fire Department reporting the blaze four miles south and east of the city dump. As the fire spread, fire departments from Sunray, Cactus, Dalhart, and several of the industrial plants joined the fight. State highway patrolmen, city and county officers joined the efforts as did farmers and ranchers.
Several thousand Moore County residents were directly in the path of the blaze as it raced across parts of the Coon Ranch, J A Ranch, Taylor Ranch and Sneed Ranch. It covered more than half of the 80,000 acres of the Sneed Flying A Ranch. Hay stacks and a barn containing a prize Jersey bull were destroyed on the G. L. Troutman farm.
The blaze cut a path nearly 12 miles long and averaged four miles wide from three miles south of Dumas to nine miles east and two miles north of town. It leaped over State Highway 152 four miles east of town.
A Boxwell ambulance going east to rescue the invalid mother of Miss Jewel Foster had to turn back because the smoke and dust was so thick. Morris Morrison, the ambulance driver found it impossible to find the turn-off. He got more specific directions and went back into the fire again. The fire had burned just east of the Foster home so the danger had passed. Mrs. Foster had been moved to the basement of the home.
Two cars coming from Stinnett to Dumas on State Highway 152 had accidents. Occupants were picked up by other vehicles and brought to Dumas.
Winds kept increasing until it was impossible to stand. An article in the March 9, 1950, Moore County News reported, "The men must have been approaching the breaking point... the elements and man's greatest enemy -- fire -- seemed to have the day won... when the wind hesitated, caught its breath and stopped shortly before 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Then, turned direction and started a burning flank running south of Dumas northeastward for some 20 miles."

Panhandle Eastern and Phillips Plants were directly in the "barrel of the gun". Maintainers and graders from the state highway department, Moore County Soil Conservation District, and fire squads from Shamrock Oil and gas and other plants came to join the fight. Bulldozers and watercarriers from private owners were added to the army of firefighters.
Women and children were evacuated from housing units at the plants and their cars were lined along the pavement watching the fire.
About 8:30 Tuesday night, the Sunray Fire Department was headed from the Haile area to the Texhoma area when they ran into trouble. They were driving pickups and a new Sunray fire truck. Leroy Little was driving the firetruck and Fred Carter was in the passenger seat. The blaze caught the vehicles and jumped over them, causing the motor on the firetruck to stall. Little and Carter jumped out and started running, but the fire caught them and burned both badly. They were one mile west of Texhoma plant. Sunray firefighter C. C. Lomax picked up Little and took him where he could be transported by a Boxwell Brothers ambulance to the hospital. Little lived about eight hours. Carter was picked up another vehicle and also transported to the hospital by the Boxwell ambulance. He was hospitalized and recovered from his burns.
The fire continued to burn going southwest, nearing previously burned areas, canyons and sandy creek bottoms. It began to burn down by midnight and was under control by 3 a.m. Wednesday. Damages done by the fire exceeded $500,000.
The 1950 fire was not the first major fire in the area. An earlier fire in 1908 started near Channing and crossed Moore County just south of Dumas and into Hutchinson County.
In 1915, a fire started near the Morris Hunt farm west of Dumas burned into Hansford County near Spearman.
The "granddaddy" of them all was in December of 1894. It started in New Mexico north of Lamb County and burned south of the Canadian River going northeastward for 100 miles with a 100 mile "front". Stories of the blaze said it "reddened the skies as far away as Fort Worth".
Women and children were evacuated from housing units at the plants and their cars were lined along the pavement watching the fire.
About 8:30 Tuesday night, the Sunray Fire Department was headed from the Haile area to the Texhoma area when they ran into trouble. They were driving pickups and a new Sunray fire truck. Leroy Little was driving the firetruck and Fred Carter was in the passenger seat. The blaze caught the vehicles and jumped over them, causing the motor on the firetruck to stall. Little and Carter jumped out and started running, but the fire caught them and burned both badly. They were one mile west of Texhoma plant. Sunray firefighter C. C. Lomax picked up Little and took him where he could be transported by a Boxwell Brothers ambulance to the hospital. Little lived about eight hours. Carter was picked up another vehicle and also transported to the hospital by the Boxwell ambulance. He was hospitalized and recovered from his burns.
The fire continued to burn going southwest, nearing previously burned areas, canyons and sandy creek bottoms. It began to burn down by midnight and was under control by 3 a.m. Wednesday. Damages done by the fire exceeded $500,000.
The 1950 fire was not the first major fire in the area. An earlier fire in 1908 started near Channing and crossed Moore County just south of Dumas and into Hutchinson County.
In 1915, a fire started near the Morris Hunt farm west of Dumas burned into Hansford County near Spearman.
The "granddaddy" of them all was in December of 1894. It started in New Mexico north of Lamb County and burned south of the Canadian River going northeastward for 100 miles with a 100 mile "front". Stories of the blaze said it "reddened the skies as far away as Fort Worth".