Godley firefighters battle fast-moving Ross fire in Palo Pinto County: "You find courage when you're scared"

When firefighters from Godley got the call to help battle the Ross Fire in Palo Pinto County, they had about an hour to pack their gear and head west. They didn't know exactly what they were walking into.

They soon found themselves facing flames that were moving quickly through the area, with intense fire behavior continuing even after the sun went down.

"You got to really — it's really zero to 100 quickly," one firefighter said. "You got to be able to cope with that."

The Ross Fire grew rapidly as it spread across Palo Pinto County, at one point doubling in size within hours and prompting fire departments from across the region to send crews to help. Among them were Godley firefighters Dustin Abbott and Ethan James.

For them, answering the call was never really a question.

"I like to help people and be there on their bad days," one of the firefighters said. "And then serve."

When their chief got the request for additional help, the firefighters had little time to prepare.

"Chief got the phone call that they were needing some more help. So we had like an hour to load our stuff up," they said.

Once they arrived, they were sent directly into the fire.

Cellphone video captured flames twisting high into the air and towering above the trees as crews worked to protect homes and property. One firefighter said the intensity of the fire at night was especially surprising.

"A surprising thing to me was the fire activity at night," he said. "So we had extreme fire behavior pretty much throughout the night in different pockets of the whole fire."

The conditions were dangerous, but firefighters said there isn't much time to think about fear when you're responsible for your crew and the people you're trying to protect.

"It is scary," one firefighter said. "But if you panic in a situation like that, you get yourself hurt, or your crew hurt or killed."

Godley Fire Chief Brian Thompson said courage isn't about not being afraid. It's about moving forward despite that fear.

"You find courage when you're scared. You run in the face of that fear," Thompson said.

Thompson said he was proud watching his firefighters take on the conditions.

For firefighters, he said, the job comes with plenty of tragedy. But the moments when their work makes a difference can be just as powerful.

"I was proud," Thompson said. "All the tragedy you see, and then when you have success and it made a difference for someone."

Abbott, James and the rest of their strike team also worked to protect homes in the fire's path.

They couldn't save every structure.

But some homes survived, and some people were able to escape with their lives and livelihoods intact.

"Seeing the outcome like that, where our hard work did pay off and people didn't lose everything they owned, their lives, livelihood, basically everything they worked for," one firefighter said.

Now, the Godley firefighters are back home after days on the front lines.

The Ross Fire is a reminder of just how quickly a routine day can turn into a life-or-death mission.

And for these firefighters, it's also a reminder of why they answer the call in the first place.

"This job is like any other job," one firefighter said. "You can have your frustrating days and days you're like, man, you know? But then having stuff happen like that, it's so — you got it with you. It kind of reminds you why we do the job."