Fire destroys buildings at Frederick place

A hot, smoky day became even hotter and smokier on Monday as several buildings at a farmstead south of Odessa went up in flames. When firefighters arrived at the scene, the buildings were already fully engulfed, including a small unoccupied house. A newer, double-wide mobile home was also located on the same property, home to Dorothy Frederick of Odessa, but it was not affected by the fire. It stood about 150 feet from the buildings that burned, and firefighters were able to keep the flames from reaching it.

As it turned out, Frederick had spent the day in Spokane and so was not home to witness the onset of the fire in the other buildings. According to rural fire chief Roger Sebesta, the cause of the fire is unknown and likely will never be known. The home was a very old wooden structure. The other buildings that burned included a small garage that contained a Chevy pickup that also went up in flames, as did about two acres of CRP grasses.

Small field fires have broken out in several spots in the countryside over the past several weeks, but Odessa firefighters have been able to put them out quickly for the most part. The pall of smoke that has obscured the sun and provided a very orange-colored moon at night has been the result of larger fires farther away in which forests are burning, some as far away as Montana and Canada. Spokane news outlets also reported ash falling in addition to the haze and smoke that blanketed the city and its surrounding areas.

With peak temperatures still reaching as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit on some days and hovering around the 90-degree mark the rest of the time, firefighters throughout the region are on high alert. Burning of any kind (campfires, etc.) is banned until conditions improve.