On March 17, 2017, the small close-knit community of Haxtun Colorado, would be forever changed. And while the healing began the day after the fire, the scars are still fresh in the minds of those most affected by the devastation it caused. It is something you just never forget.
The prairie fire first ignited east of Proctor Colorado, racing south and east, mostly due to the extremely high winds. It burned 32,000 acres of ground that day, including homes, farms, pasture, barns, corn stocks, ending 10 hours later, just east of highway 59, 10 miles north of Haxtun Colorado.
Frantically, emergency calls went to residents in the path of the storm and even the school and the town were on high alert for evacuation orders. Many area farmers quickly hooked up their equipment to till the ground ahead of the rolling blaze. Many would attest, that did not work. Flames soared above and over their tractors. But more and more tractors would come, along with a huge supply of water tanks and firefighters. Firefighters came from many small town towns including Holyoke, Fleming, Sterling, Crook and of course Haxtun, just to name a few.
As devastating as the fire storm was, the wind was relentless! For three days it blew massive amounts of burnt ground and dry brush making it almost impossible to assess damages, continue to put out small pockets of fires, extinguish trees that were smoldering, and locate missing livestock and attend to their needs.
Most apparent after the fire was the loss of trees! Virtually all the trees on every farm and all the pasture and CRP trees were totally charred down to the trunks.
As big as the fire was that day, the support from the community was even bigger! Many meals were provided for weeks from the area churches. Local clubs and organizations gathered support in the form of cash donations. Points West Community Bank set up a fund at the bank and secured thousands of dollars. Sterling Livestock in Sterling Colorado was able to auction off donated steers for the fire victims. Local farm supply stores in Haxtun and Holyoke provided donated supplies to fix and replace pasture fences. The community raised support for the local Haxtun Volunteer Fire Department by having an auction and dinner, bringing in over $150,000.00. Because of the loss of stored hay on the farms, hay was trucked in from surrounding towns and even nearby states.
The day of this storm..... the long days afters this storm......and even the many days that followed represented #HaxtunStrong which became a popular t -shirt hashtag for the community. The magnitude of this fire was epic and even the old timers referred to it as a 100-year storm!
A community forever changed!
Credit: Photos from area residents, Haxtun-Herald newspaper.