On Monday, Hennessey Firefighters and six other departments spent over 12 hours fighting a major fire southeast of town. They responded to a brush fire at about 11 am Monday near the intersection of 2950 and 670 rd., eight east and five south of Hennessey. The fire quickly escalated when it got into a wooded area as it moved north. The rough terrain and heavy timber made it very difficult for crews to get close enough to extinguish the flames that sometimes jumped 100 feet into the air.
Crews were still on scene dealing with flare-ups until12 midnight. Many of the Hennessey firefighters were there for over 13 hours, then returned at 7 am to put out hotspots. Hennessey Fire Chief Bert Gritz said, “Just when we think we got it out, another fire would pop up.” Several trucks had to leave the scene during the night to respond to a grass fire in Miller Heights, then back to the fire out east.
Several Hennessey restaurants, including Golden Chick and Pizza Hut, supplied food for the crews.
Departments fighting the fires in the 106-degree heat included; Hennessey, Crescent, Pioneer Skeleton Creek, Orlando, Dover, Cashion, Marshall, and Douglas. No homes or structures were damaged during the fires.
