March 12, 2006 – “The Day Hell Came to the Panhandle.”  I am sure we all remember that day.  Warm, powder dry, and very windy.  Like this year.  The previous late summer had seen rains which caused the grass and brush to shoot up, only to dry out as months went by with no moisture.  Like this year.  Burn bans and fire danger warnings were in effect.  Like this year.  On that day, these dangerous conditions combined with strong winds and improperly maintained electric lines sparked the two largest wildfires in recorded Texas history, burning approximately 900,000 acres; destroying fences, vehicles, buildings and homes; killing livestock in droves; and taking human life.  These two fires were a catastrophe.
It is during catastrophes that heroes emerge.  “Hero.”  Societies need heroes, so much so that we often dub as “hero” those who are not.  Talented athletes, celebrities, and politicians are not heroes.  A true hero is a person who, faced with a circumstance where human life or limb is at stake, steps in at mortal risk to herself to help another.  A true hero is one who is prepared to sacrifice himself for another, just because it is the right thing to do.
Three heroes emerged on March 12, 2006, when the larger of the two wildfires, the “Borger Fire,” was rapidly approaching the Borger Greenhouse.  The Borger Greenhouse was the home and former greenhouse business of Bill and Oleta Pfeffer.  Oleta, in her early 90’s, was totally disabled with advanced Alzheimer’s disease.  Her husband, Bill, was in his mid-eighties, dependent on supplemental oxygen, and used a cane.  Their home was surrounded by hundreds of evergreens.
Kathy Ryan, a 64 year old retired widow, was treating her elderly parents to lunch at a restaurant in Borger, in celebration of their wedding anniversary.  She heard of the fire and rushed toward her home near Skellytown to prepare.  Her route took her by the Borger Greenhouse, which she could see was in the path of the rapidly approaching fire.  She drove in to rescue her elderly neighbors.
Shortly thereafter, an E.O.C. volunteer, James Cornelius, and Kenneth Winters, foreman on a nearby ranch, learned that the Pfeffers were at their home and Kathy Ryan was there trying to get them out.  “I told Ken that Bill and Oleta were in there and we had to go get them,” said James Cornelius.  Kenneth Winters replied, “Lead the way.”
When they arrived, the fire was close to the Pfeffers’ property and bearing down quickly.  Winters and Cornelius ran in the house to find Kathy Ryan helping Bill Pfeffer get his oxygen hooked up and running.  “We have to get out of here now,” they told Bill.  “Get my wife and get my oxygen and let’s go,” he replied.  Winters and Cornelius scooped up Oleta and got her in Cornelius’ pick-up.  The Greenhouse buildings and the surrounding trees were already in flames.  James drove through a lane of burning evergreens and made it to the highway with Oleta unharmed, though he and the interior of his truck were singed by the heat.
Kenneth ran back in to help Kathy get Bill Pfeffer out.  They finished getting the oxygen hooked up and working and together hurried out to Kathy’s pickup.  By this time the flames had reached the back of the house, only a few yards away.  The path back to the highway was totally engulfed in flames and smoke.  As Kathy and Bill Pfeffer got into her pickup, Ken Winters told them to follow him.  “If I stall out, you hit me and push me because we are going to have to blow through the fence,” Ken told Kathy.  Ken ran to his truck, dropped it in gear, sped through the yard, jumped the raised drive, went through burning trees, drove through the fence and sped to the highway through the adjoining burned pasture.  When he got there, he realized Kathy and Bill had not followed.  It was later determined that Kathy Ryan’s truck would not start in the oxygen-starved and smoke-filled area just ahead of the fire.  Kathy Ryan and Bill Pfeffer tried to escape on foot, but were overtaken by the flames and heat several yards downwind from her truck.
James Cornelius is a hero.  Kenneth Winters is a hero.  Kathy Ryan is a hero – one who sacrificed her life, just because it was the right thing to do.  To honor Kathy Ryan, her children and my law firm have created The Kathy Ryan Rural Fire and Rescue Endowment, administered by the Amarillo Area Foundation.  The income from the endowment shall be used annually to award funds to educate and train fire and rescue volunteers and personnel in the Texas Panhandle.
We ask you to honor Kathy Ryan, James Cornelius and Ken Winters, help train future heroes, and make your Texas Panhandle a safer place by contributing to this endowment.  The larger the endowment, the more money will be available for training our rural fire and rescue personnel and volunteers.   Contributions can be sent to The Kathy Ryan Rural Fire and Rescue Endowment, in care of the Amarillo Area Foundation.  Applications for education and training grants should also be sent to the Amarillo Area Foundation.