AMARILLO, Texas — Dallas-Fort Worth area firefighters, along with the Texas division of emergency management are in West Texas, where they’re helping with the wildfires.
This is part of the governor’s order.
The firefighters are going above and beyond, and sacrificing Christmas, without their families.
From the air, and on the ground, video shows firefighters battling the intense flames.
“It was pretty intense situation,” said Sterling Gilliland, a Haltom City firefighter.
Gilliland was going door to door evacuating people.
“Do as much as we could in as little time as we were allotted,” said Gilliland.
He, along with 30 other Dallas-Fort Worth area firefighters packed their bags at the last minute to be a part of this unexpected mission.
“It was the first for a lot of guys to be deployed in December for wildfires, and freezing temperatures,” said Gilliland.
The temperatures are brutally cold.
“We had to deal with our tanks, and valves getting frozen on the trucks,” said Gilliland.
D-FW firefighters are spread out across the Texas panhandle, South Plains and West Texas.
And, there is no telling what the conditions will be day to day.
“You can see our environment out here, dead grass, dead vegetation,” said Vann Wakefield, a Southlake firefighter.
Wakefield is also on this mission this holiday season.
“It will be different tomorrow night, or Christmas morning when I wake up. That’s what we sign on to do,” said Wakefield.
With Christmas in mind, their priority is making sure families are safe in the Panhandle.
“Families know it’s not always easy, and they make as much sacrifice as we do. The tactics they used saved that entire town from burning down,” said Wakefield.