Quartz Mountain Lodge fire; February 27, 1995.

 This was a mutual aid response.  Nine fire departments responded to this fire on a bitterly cold evening.  The fire fighting activities were hampered by the lack of water supplies.  Many departments responded with tankers.  To refill, these takers were forced to leave the park to reach a water source approximately 4 miles away.

News: Local

Man survives, pets lost in Martha blaze Michael Green, a Martha resident who works nights awoke to do his laundry late Sunday afternoon at his 20433 E. County Road 1586 home and immediately noticed the smell of smoke. He began to look around for the source of the odor when the smoke detector began to sound. Green attempted to put the fire out on his own with an extinguisher but realized he was in need of assistance. He ran out of the single-wide trailer to the front yard and according to his mother and owner of the trailer, Charlene Davis-Presley, "he hollered to the neighbor," Ken Bloom, to call the fire department. Green re-entered the trailer and became trapped in the back when the oxygen was let into the house. Davis-Presley said that nothing was salvageable. "It's been our home since 1980 -- when we moved, it moved," said Davis-Presley. She lost 300 volumes of genealogy books after 25 years of researching. "It's all gone, my cross-stitching and photo albums over the years." Both of her cats died in the blaze. "You just have to tell yourself that the kitties went to sleep," said Davis-Presley. To make matters worse, she carried insurance on the home for 22 years and had to let it lapse over the past year because of rising costs due to her husband's illness. Green, who made it out "with the clothes on his back," was taken by Jackson County EMS to Jackson County Memorial Hospital where he was admitted for smoke inhalation; his hair was also singed. He was released in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and barefooted, "but he got out alive," said Davis-Presley. According to Martha Fire Chief Don Hervey, the state Fire Marshall's Office concluded the fire was caused by an electrical short when water from the heavy rains seeped into the breaker box. Hervey said the alarm time came in at 4:30 p.m. and the fire was responded to by the fire departments of Martha, Altus, Blair and Friendship. "Cooperation between the departments was outstanding," said Hervey. "I'd like to thank all the fire firefighters from the mutual aid departments of Altus, Blair and Friendship for outstanding help." Davis-Presley said Hervey told her that her son was the first fire victim that had to be hospitalized in the Martha Fire Department district in over a decade. Hervey's advic-e to others is "Once you leave a building (on fire) -- don't go back in -- exit the building and call 911." Hervey said this is a reminder to check your smoke detector to make sure the batteries are charged.