{"id":37196,"date":"2024-04-24T11:11:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T16:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/?p=37196"},"modified":"2024-04-24T15:49:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T20:49:15","slug":"how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Neighbors helping neighbors’: How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were set up on the highway, and it just started raining fire,\u201d said Bobby Smith, a lieutenant on the refinery\u2019s Emergency Response Team and a member of the Stinnett Volunteer Fire Department. \u201cThe fire came over the top of us and hit the highway, and we had to retreat. That was probably the scariest moment because it was almost a total blackout because of the smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Phillips 66 team responded as part of the Panhandle region\u2019s mutual aid concept, in which the Borger Fire Complex and neighboring towns help each other to fight bigger fires and respond to major emergencies. The response to these blazes consisted of multiple dispatches and long hours \u2014 most first responders only got about two or three hours of sleep at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to a wildland firefighting team, the Borger Fire Complex includes several employees like Smith who serve as volunteer firefighters for small towns around the refinery. That put a number of them on the front lines of the Smokehouse Creek and Windy Deuce fires.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The larger Smokehouse Creek Fire eventually burned over 1 million acres \u2014 roughly comparable to the distance between New York City and Philadelphia. It killed two people and countless livestock, destroyed more than 500 structures and devastated grasslands needed by the region\u2019s cattle ranchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillips 66 volunteer firefighters are trained and equipped to work alongside volunteer fire departments. They spend 16 hours each quarter on training, and employees can attend Phillips 66 Fire School held twice a year and taught by company instructors at Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Smith, Tim Graham, Asa Woodfin and Josh Yates brought that knowledge and experience to bear in fighting the wildfires, they knew from the start that the blaze north of Stinnett, Texas on Feb. 26 was no ordinary event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe voice coming from our captain as she was trying to call out personnel was bone-chilling,\u201d said Woodfin, a maintenance lead at the Borger Refinery and assistant chief for the Stinnett VFD. \u201cI knew we were going to show up and have something big that we probably have never dealt with to that magnitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham, the refinery\u2019s Emergency Response Team leader and assistant chief for the Fritch VFD, said the firefighters often take a wait-and-see approach to wildland fires, allowing the blaze time to burn into an area where it can best be attacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is honor and commitment in not only going out the door knowing you can fight fires, but also in knowing that you\u2019re going to have the best possible chance to come home from that fire,\u201d said Graham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firefighting team\u2019s approach to risk management extends to proactive measures. Because of the vast amount of grasslands and wildlands surrounding the Borger Refinery, the Borger Fire Complex performs controlled burns each year to reduce the risk of an uncontrolled fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Smokehouse Creek Fire was uncontrollable. \u201cIt was massive when we got there,\u201d said Woodfin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe get big fires in our county,\u201d said Graham. \u201cIt’s not unusual for us to get 400 or 500 acres or sometimes 1,000 acres, but 40 minutes into this fire, we were already at 10,000 acres.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith recalled the view once the smoke lifted.  \u201cAs soon as that blew over and got a little bit clearer, we could see homes going up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe basically went in and just started trying to pick out which homes we could try to save.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike some of his colleagues with strong firefighting backgrounds, Yates was new to firefighting when he joined the Borger Refinery as a Health and Safety specialist. \u201cYou rely on your teammates to learn tips and tricks,\u201d he said. \u201cSome of it\u2019s learned on the job, and a lot of it is learned in training. I\u2019ve learned everything from our Phillips 66 response team members here at Borger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Borger Refinery, along with the ChevronPhillips chemical plant, are major employers in the area. When firefighters respond to a house fire, it likely belongs to someone who either works for Phillips 66 or ChevronPhillips, or to a family member who knows someone employed there, said Graham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good way to serve the community, especially out here where there aren\u2019t big fire departments that can respond,\u201d said Yates. \u201cOne of the local volunteer fire department slogans is \u2018Neighbors helping neighbors,\u2019 and that fits pretty well around here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said Yates, \u201cI am just trying to help my neighbors because I\u2019m physically able to when others may not be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\"\"
Clockwise: Asa Woodfin, Tim Graham, Bobby Smith and Josh Yates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","widen_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/phillips66.widen.net\/content\/x5ajwa91k5\/jpeg\/24-0001_17%20Borger%20Fire%20Story_DotCom%20Thumbnail.jpeg?keep=c&crop=yes&color=ffffffff&quality=54&u=unxpvg","widen_thumbnail_width":"2048","widen_thumbnail_height":"1262","psx_hero_image_url":"https:\/\/phillips66.widen.net\/content\/04expbkgav\/jpeg\/24-0001_17%20Borger%20Fire%20Story_Dotcom.jpeg?keep=c&crop=yes&color=ffffffff&quality=54&u=unxpvg","psx_hero_image_width":"2048","psx_hero_image_height":"640","psx_hero_image_mobile_url":"https:\/\/phillips66.widen.net\/content\/x5ajwa91k5\/jpeg\/24-0001_17%20Borger%20Fire%20Story_DotCom%20Thumbnail.jpeg?keep=c&crop=yes&color=ffffffff&quality=54&u=unxpvg","psx_hero_image_mobile_width":"2048","psx_hero_image_mobile_height":"1262","psx_byline":"Bill Zander, Corporate Communications"},"categories":[3,11,1],"class_list":["post-37196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-giving-our-energy","category-safety","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n'Neighbors helping neighbors': How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires - Phillips 66<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Neighbors helping neighbors': How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Phillips 66\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Phillips66Co\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-24T16:11:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-24T20:49:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/05\/BAYWAYSTILLS0060.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"959\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"William Zander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@phillips66co\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@phillips66co\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"William Zander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":[\"Article\",\"BlogPosting\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"William Zander\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/person\/88c30021498c4b180252ee3c38d65c2f\"},\"headline\":\"‘Neighbors helping neighbors’: How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-24T16:11:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-24T20:49:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/\"},\"wordCount\":778,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Giving Our Energy\",\"Safety\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/\",\"name\":\"'Neighbors helping neighbors': How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires - Phillips 66\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-24T16:11:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-24T20:49:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"‘Neighbors helping neighbors’: How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/\",\"name\":\"Phillips 66\",\"description\":\"Corporate Home of Phillips 66\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/Organization\/1\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/Organization\/1\",\"name\":\"Phillips 66\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-content\/themes\/phillips66\/dist\/images\/psx-android-chrome-192.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-content\/themes\/phillips66\/dist\/images\/psx-android-chrome-192.png\",\"width\":192,\"height\":192,\"caption\":\"Phillips 66\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/phillips66co\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/phillips66co\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Phillips66Co\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@Phillips66Co\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Neighbors helping neighbors': How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires - Phillips 66","description":"When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"'Neighbors helping neighbors': How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires","og_description":"When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/","og_site_name":"Phillips 66","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Phillips66Co\/","article_published_time":"2024-04-24T16:11:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-24T20:49:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":959,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/05\/BAYWAYSTILLS0060.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"William Zander","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@phillips66co","twitter_site":"@phillips66co","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"William Zander","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/"},"author":{"name":"William Zander","@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/person\/88c30021498c4b180252ee3c38d65c2f"},"headline":"‘Neighbors helping neighbors’: How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires","datePublished":"2024-04-24T16:11:51+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-24T20:49:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/"},"wordCount":778,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Giving Our Energy","Safety"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/","url":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/","name":"'Neighbors helping neighbors': How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires - Phillips 66","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-04-24T16:11:51+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-24T20:49:15+00:00","description":"When the largest wildfire in Texas history threatened the Texas Panhandle, Phillips 66 employees at the Borger Refinery answered the call.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"‘Neighbors helping neighbors’: How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/","name":"Phillips 66","description":"Corporate Home of Phillips 66","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/Organization\/1"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/Organization\/1","name":"Phillips 66","url":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-content\/themes\/phillips66\/dist\/images\/psx-android-chrome-192.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-content\/themes\/phillips66\/dist\/images\/psx-android-chrome-192.png","width":192,"height":192,"caption":"Phillips 66"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/phillips66co","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/phillips66co","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Phillips66Co","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@Phillips66Co"]}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"‘Neighbors helping neighbors’: How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires","url":"http:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/newsroom\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Giving Our Energy","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"William Zander"}],"creator":["William Zander"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phillips 66","logo":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/cropped-icon-512.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2024-04-24T16:11:51Z","datePublished":"2024-04-24T16:11:51Z","dateModified":"2024-04-24T20:49:15Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"‘Neighbors helping neighbors’: How Borger employees fought the Panhandle fires\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.phillips66.com\\\/newsroom\\\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.phillips66.com\\\/newsroom\\\/how-borger-employees-fought-the-panhandle-fires\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"\"},\"articleSection\":\"Giving Our Energy\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"William Zander\"}],\"creator\":[\"William Zander\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Phillips 66\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.phillips66.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/cropped-icon-512.png\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2024-04-24T16:11:51Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-24T16:11:51Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-24T20:49:15Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/phillips66.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37196"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37411,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37196\/revisions\/37411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phillips66.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}