The latest grassfires in the Texas Panhandle have hit home for me. It is an area I know very well. My father is from Borger, TX and I have family and friends in Pampa, TX. I have been to the area countless times and went to college south of where the grassfires reportedly area. Six people have died as a result of the grassfires near Borger, and last night the town of Pampa was periously close to one of the fires while at least parts of Borger were evacuated.

Now to most readers of this site, these are probably just two towns in a remote part of Texas, and that is true, but the geography of the area and the economic interests in the region may cause a rippling effect to all Americans. The population of the two towns of Borger and Pampa is roughly 40,000 with an average driving distance between the two of 30 minutes, if memory serves correctly and based on slowing down my always speeding late grandfather. The region is what most people seem to think of Texas; that is a fairly flat plained area with sparse nests of trees but plenty of grass. The Palo Duro Canyon is well South of this particular region and there are few hills. It’s not Lubbock flat, but it’s pretty level. The region’s almost sole provider of water, Lake Meredith, also is directly in line with where the grassfires reportedly are.

A town called Phillips is just north of Borger, and as you might have guessed, a large Phillips plant operates there. There’s also Huber Oil, where my late grandfather worked, and oil fields throughout the region directly effected by the fire. Now we don’t get nearly as much oil from the Panhandle now as what we used to, but there is still a good amount of oil being pumped from the wells thanks in part to family inventions to increase the effecitiveness of these pumps. There will likely be an immediate decline in oil production, and if Phillips is hampered by the fires then we will face an immediate decline in gasoline production, by these fires that will probably cause gas prices to increase. That increase will be slight, but I do predict an increase.

Because of the geography of the region and the time of season which anyone who has ever been to West Texas in the Spring knows a day with 40 mph wind gusts is the one day you can go golfing, the grassfires are likely to keep spreading. Thus far it is quite amazing the fires have not engulfed more buildings and threatened more towns based upon that fact. Hopefully the firefighters in the region have the energy to tame the fires before more people die.

On a side note, if anyone has to Pampa recently or if you live there, is that enormous catfish in the Pampa museum still alive? It must weigh, or weighed, 100 pounds.