Southern Baptists continue to respond to destructive wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma.
In Texas, Baptist volunteers are rushing water to the Texas Panhandle.
“This is devastating. Our volunteers live all over Texas, and those in the Panhandle quickly responded,” said David Wells, Texas Baptist Men/Texans on Mission Disaster Relief director. “They were in Fritch Tuesday night as the city evacuated and about 100 homes were damaged or destroyed.”
Texans on Mission volunteers beyond the Panhandle were headed to the scene on Thursday (Feb. 29). A mobile Command Center and staff are en route, as well as two shower/laundry units and assessors.
“This is the first wave,” Wells said. “The Command Center provides a communications hub for our volunteers so we can put them in the best position to serve. The assessors are in the field gathering specific information for our volunteer teams, and the shower/laundry units will serve Texas Task Force 1 and others over a multi-day deployment.”
Baptist association affected
“It is now Day Three in what is called the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the second largest fire in Texas History,” Les Griffin, Caprook Plains Baptist Association director of missions, wrote in an email to his association on Thursday morning. … Towns such as Stinnett, Canadian, Fritch, Borger and yes to western Oklahoma have been ravaged,” Griffin added.
By Thursday afternoon, Associated Press reported the Smokehouse Creek Fire had grown to the largest in Texas history, having merged with another fire and covering nearly 1,700 square miles.
More help on the way
Additional Texans on Mission units are on standby and expected to be deployed soon — fire/flood recovery, feeding, chaplain, heavy equipment, chainsaw, asset protection, electronic support, box and others. Thursday morning, pallets of bottled water left Texans on Mission’s Dallas headquarters headed to the Panhandle.
Mickey Lenamon, executive director/CEO, asked Texans to pray for the people living and suffering through this disaster. And he asked people to also pray for TBM volunteers and others impacted by the fire.
“This is a dangerous situation,” Lenamon said. “The days ahead will require long hours of service in a sensitive situation. People have lost everything they own. They’re looking for help. But they’re also looking for hope for the days ahead.”
“Please pray that Texans on Mission volunteers can provide the practical help people need and can point people to Christ, who brings hope and healing,” said Lenamon.
Oklahoma
Meanwhile, Oklahoma Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers responded on Feb. 28 to provide relief following devastating wildfires that swept through northwest parts of the state the evening before.
“Our volunteers are delivering pallets of water, snacks, etc. to Gage and other parts of Ellis County,” said Jason Yarbrough, Oklahoma Baptists Disaster Relief director. “I have requested ash-out recovery teams to respond to that area, as there are about a dozen homes impacted or destroyed. This would include a feeding team in addition to our other volunteers.”
Yarbrough added, “I was also called by our disaster relief friends in Texas to be on alert for the possibility of helping with homes in Texas Panhandle.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was compiled from reports written by Ferrell Foster and Bob Nigh and published by Baptist Standard and Baptist Messenger, respectively.
