Christmas came early to firefighters in Canadian, Gem City and Briscoe Wednesday evening. Hemphill County landowners Salem Abraham and Trey and Anita Webb announced the presentation of generous gift cards to each of 56 fire department volunteers in gratitude for the dangerous and difficult work they do.

The monetary gifts were the result of a lawsuit filed by plaintiffs Buffalo Springs Land LLLP and SAA Ventures LP—both owned by Abraham—for damages sustained in an April 2019 prescribed burn conducted at the Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area by contracted agents for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The planned burn had sparked controversy before the first drip torch was even ignited. Several Lake Marvin Road landowners—among them Abraham and the Webbs—had already stated their opposition to the fire, with visions of a prescribed burn conducted ten years earlier on the Gene Howe WMA still fresh in memory. That fire, which eventually involved firefighters from 35 to 40 Texas and Oklahoma fire departments, resulted in damage to 5,000 acres of both privately- and publicly-owned property.

In response to the anger that followed that fiasco, State Representative Ken King (R-Canadian) authored a bill passed by the 84th Texas Legislature. It placed new restrictions on the TPWD prescribed-burn policy, requiring additional prior notifications to the public, elected officials, and affected property owners, as well as purchase of a $2 million liability policy and indemnification of anyone who suffers damages up to $1 million.

Despite the liability TPWD faced as a result, landowners were unable to halt the new prescribed burn plan. On April 2, 2019, a team comprised of a firing boss, burn boss, nearly two dozen firefighters, and a helicopter pilot, lit the first fire around 10:30 that morning under southerly winds ranging from 10-15 mph.

By noon, the winds had accelerated to 15-20 mph, with slightly higher gusts. As the burn continued, five small spot fires broke out just beyond the project perimeter—one on land owned by Abraham. The outbreaks were stopped with the help of a helicopter dropping water overhead.

A month later, however, Abraham announced that he had filed a lawsuit against TPWD contractors Archie Stone, Bryan Tate and Global Frontline Solutions LLC, charging that the fire had invaded and damaged his property. After ignoring the plaintiff’s warnings, the petition stated, the burn team “negligently, willfully and wantonly” ignited the fire on the WMA near Abraham’s property, knowing that doing so posed extreme risk to life and property, and that the likelihood of losing control, as in the past, was high.

In addition, the petition noted, “The defendants also physically invaded plaintiff’s property when they stole and converted significant amounts of plaintiff’s groundwater while fighting the out-of-control blaze.”

In October 2022, a settlement was reached in the lawsuit, acknowledging Abraham’s damage claims without conceding liability, and agreeing to pay the plaintiffs $50,000.

The settlement also stipulated that burn managers Archie Stone and Andrew Bivins would sign and send a letter to TPWD advising against performing prescribed burns on the Gene Howe WMA.

“We recognize that public opposition in the area is informed by previous prescribed burns in which the fire escaped the boundaries of the GHWMA,” the letter states. “We continue to believe that prescribed fire can be an important tool in wildland management and wildfire mitigation.”

“However, because of the community opposition, the deceptively complex nature of the GHWMA and potential negative impact to the statewide prescribed burn program, we recommend that TPWD forego prescribed burns on the GHWMA in the future.”

Amarillo attorney Joe Lovell—who represented the plaintiffs in the suit—was on hand for Wednesday’s gift presentation, which was held at the fire station during the Canadian VFD’s weekly meeting.

“Salem asked me to represent him [in this lawsuit] and see if we could…try to seek a little bit of justice,” Lovell explained. “We did eventually reach a settlement and obtain some money.”

“From the get-go, [Salem] always said, ‘I don’t want any money for me. I want to highlight the risks in my community that are associated with fire, with wildland fires,’” said Lovell. “This is a gift from all of us here to all of you for the gifts that you give to everybody in the community, and we just want to thank you for that.”

Flap-Air Helicopter co-owner Trey Webb also spoke, commending the local firefighters for their skill and dedication. As a veteran helicopter pilot, Webb frequently provides essential aerial support to area firefighters. “It’s good to see y’all in here, and not out in the sand hills, he said, to appreciative laughter. “Usually all I see is the facemask, and y’all are seeing the bottom of my helicopter.”

“When we go do mutual aid with other counties, I'm always glad to go help them,” Webb said, “but I always feel a level of safety when I come back to you guys.”

“We started this fight,” he said, referring to the ongoing battle over the dangers of TPWD prescribed burns in this area. “I finally got to a point where we weren’t gonna’ put up with it anymore, so Anita and I started the fight trying to defend ourselves.”

We started this fight, and Joe and Salem finished it, and y’all get the benefit of it.

TREY WEBB

Both Abraham and the Webbs agreed that the money from the lawsuit should be donated to the firefighters, who face the immediate danger from wildfire outbreaks. Lovell also deferred his fees, contributing, as well, to the cause.

“Joe knew what we were doing,” Abraham said, “and we've all worked together enough, so I really appreciate Joe and the Lovell firm for saying, ‘Hey, we're not charging,’ and I said, I'll pay the expenses. We held them down and [Joe] pulled the money out of their pockets.”

Abraham briefly reviewed the troubled history of prescribed burns on the Gene Howe WMA—burns that historically have caused extensive damage to neighboring landowners on Lake Marvin Road.

“You know, the first one they burned, it went to the Shannon's. The second one was on Shannon's too, mostly,” Abraham said. “You know, the bad part was that the Shannon's had to replace fence. They had several hundred thousand dollars in damage. And when the government lights it on fire, you can't get anything back.”

“Fortunately, that's where Anita and Trey got involved with [State Representative] Ken King and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to change how it's done. You have to have some insurance.’ So I think [the contractor] has to have a million dollars of insurance, now.” 

Abraham conceded that fires can be good for the country, but added, “When it gets down on that river, it just burns trees, kills trees. At some point, all of this country burns, but I don't think we ought to start it. They've had three fires and every one got away.”

The third fire was the last straw for Abraham, who was upset when the burn contractors in charge told The Canadian Record it had been a successful burn.

And it was a succesful burn. I mean they killed all the cottonwood trees. The trees are as dead as a hammer.

SALEM ABRAHAM

That was when he finally turned to Lovell for help. “We wanted two things,” he said. “We wanted to try to get it where they would never come do it again. That was because they keep coming back. And we wanted them to write a check.”

“So we’ve brought you guys a Christmas gift of some cash cards,” Lovell said. “We’re turning them over to [Canadian VFD Chief Scott Brewster], who’s going to make sure everybody in the volunteer force gets one of these cards for Christmas. Use it however you see fit. Spend it in the community.”

Abraham’s final request in the lawsuit settlement was that the burn contractors, Andrew Bivins and Archie Stone, send a signed letter to then-TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith, who retired last year, recommending that the department forego all prescribed burns on the Gene Howe WMA in the future. [See attached letter below.]

“We've seen it before,” he said. “The firefighters have unfortunately seen it before. And so the whole thing just pisses me off, that they come and just light fires and waste y'all's time and waste all our time.”

Abraham expressed his gratitude for the volunteer firefighters’ work. “We really appreciate all you do. I mean, not just now, but always. Y’all bust your tails and y'all risk your lives. You're out there fighting all the time. You take away time from your jobs, your families.”

“This is just a small bit back and we just want to say thank you. We appreciate you very much. Y'all are awesome.” 

“Hopefully,” he added, “y’all won’t have to go out there again.”