By the time the first Potter County Fire Rescue units rolled through the gates of the Amarillo Landfill on the afternoon of May 17, firefighters already knew this wasn't an ordinary trash fire.
Within minutes of arriving, they were requesting heavy equipment, warning about dangerous wind conditions and documenting concerns that, in hindsight, foreshadowed one of the most destructive fires in recent Potter County history.
After every major disaster, people naturally look for the moment everything went wrong.
They search for the one decision, one mistake or one event that changed the outcome.
The Potter County Fire Rescue reports tell a different story.
Rather than pointing to a single turning point, they describe a series of decisions, observations and warnings that began nearly 24 hours before flames reached Bishop Estates.
Long before homes burned.
Long before residents evacuated.
Long before the first ember crossed the landfill fence.
Firefighters were documenting problems they believed required immediate attention.
The reports don't answer every question about what happened. But they make one thing clear: firefighters recognized almost immediately they were dealing with a fire unlike the ones they normally fought.
A Routine Dispatch That Quickly Changed
At approximately 3:35 p.m. on May 17, Potter County Fire Rescue was dispatched to the landfill on Bezner Road for what was initially reported as a fire investigation.
On paper, it looked routine.
Landfill fires aren't unusual. Deep inside municipal landfills, decomposing refuse generates heat. Heavy equipment can create sparks, and buried material sometimes ignites on its own. Fire departments across the country respond to these incidents every year.
Most never become headline news.
This one would.
Assistant Chief Jonathan Stevens arrived about 3:46 p.m. and immediately found something much larger than expected.
According to his incident report, firefighters discovered an active refuse fire covering roughly five acres inside Cell 10. Stevens assumed command and began assessing not only the fire itself, but also the conditions surrounding it.
From the beginning, the focus wasn't simply on extinguishing burning trash. The combination of the fire's size and the day's weather created a situation that demanded a different approach.
Why Water Wasn't Enough
Most people assume firefighters fight every fire with water.
Landfill fires don't work that way.
Unlike a grass fire or a house fire, landfill fires often burn deep below the surface, where layers of compacted refuse trap heat. Visible flames may disappear while the fire continues smoldering several feet underground.
Water can cool what's burning on the surface without reaching the material still burning underneath.
That's why heavy equipment is often just as important as fire engines.
Bulldozers expose burning refuse, move debris and cover hot spots with dirt, cutting off the oxygen the fire needs to survive. In many landfill fires, that's the only effective way to put the fire out.
The reports show firefighters recognized that almost immediately.
Within minutes of taking command, Stevens requested City of Amarillo Solid Waste bulldozers to begin covering burning refuse with dirt. It was one of the first major tactical decisions documented that afternoon.
Fighting on Two Fronts
While waiting for heavy equipment, firefighters launched a conventional fire attack.
Brush trucks attacked the flames where they could reach them. Engines established water supplies. Crews searched for spot fires around the perimeter, while others climbed higher on the landfill to get a better view of the fire.
They weren't just watching the flames.
They were watching the wind.
That concern appears again and again throughout the reports.
The Weather Was Already Against Them
According to the incident narrative, conditions on May 17 were extreme.
Humidity was just 8 percent.
Southwest winds were sustained around 21 mph, with gusts approaching 44 mph.
Those aren't just weather statistics.
Low humidity dries vegetation to the point where a single ember can ignite grass almost instantly. Strong winds feed oxygen to the fire while carrying burning debris hundreds of feet beyond the main flames.
Together, they create some of the most dangerous conditions firefighters face.
Stevens documented exactly that.
According to his report, embers began spotting outside the landfill pit almost immediately as winds carried burning material north and east.
The incident was already growing.
The Fire Escapes the Pit
It didn't take long for firefighters to realize the fire was moving beyond the landfill itself.
The reports describe flames breaching the pit perimeter and advancing toward the fence line.
Amarillo Fire Department crews arrived. Unified Command was established. The Texas A&M Forest Service was requested, and Potter County called in every available county unit as spot fires developed outside the landfill.
Even then, firefighters weren't just reacting to what was happening.
They were thinking about what could happen next.
If enough embers escaped the landfill, nearby neighborhoods could quickly be at risk.
That concern shaped many of the decisions documented throughout the incident.
Dirt Becomes the Priority
As the response expanded, firefighters continued returning to the same strategy.
Cover the burning refuse.
The reports repeatedly emphasize dirt—not because it was preferred, but because it was necessary.
Stevens wrote that surface flames could be cooled, but the deep-seated fire had to be buried.
Hours later, after summarizing the day's operations, he wrote:
"The only viable mitigation method was smothering the burning refuse with dirt."
That wasn't an opinion formed months later.
It was part of the official incident narrative written by the officer who commanded the initial response.
Concerns Along the Fence Line
As crews worked around the landfill, another issue emerged.
According to Stevens' report, firefighters found refuse piled along both sides of the primary catch fence and observed sections of a secondary catch fence that had already been compromised.
Burning debris remained near the fence line while winds continued pushing embers toward surrounding vegetation.
Those observations were documented before Bishop Estates caught fire.
Firefighters weren't looking back after the disaster and explaining what they thought had happened.
They were documenting what they believed could happen while they were still trying to prevent it.
More Equipment Requested
By late afternoon, Stevens concluded the resources on scene weren't enough.
According to his report, he contacted Amarillo's Office of Emergency Management to stress the need for additional earth-moving equipment to continue covering burning refuse and reduce the growing ember threat.
Assistant City Manager Donnie Hooper later joined the conversation.
Stevens documented requesting a motor grader to remove windblown refuse and vegetation from the fence line.
According to Stevens' account, Hooper responded that landfill operations complied with permit requirements and that Stevens "did not understand the permit."
Stevens wrote that his concern wasn't regulatory compliance.
It was protecting lives and nearby homes.
His report ends the exchange with a sentence that has become central to public discussion:
"The call ended with an understanding that the city was not sending any additional operators or earth moving equipment."
That reflects Stevens' contemporaneous account of the conversation. Whether others involved remember the exchange differently is beyond the scope of the Potter County Fire Rescue reports.
A Fire That Was Controlled—Not Out
Despite those concerns, firefighters made significant progress before nightfall.
They stopped the fire's advance outside the landfill. Spot fires were extinguished, and the immediate threat to nearby homes eased.
From a distance, it looked like the incident was stabilizing.
But the reports draw an important distinction.
The spread of the fire had been controlled.
The landfill fire itself had not been extinguished.
Deep inside Cell 10, burning refuse remained, and the source of the embers was still active.
That difference would become critical the next day.
The Decision Still to Come
As darkness settled over the landfill, firefighters had reason to feel they had prevented a much larger disaster.
They had protected nearby homes and contained the fire's spread beyond the landfill.
But they also knew the work wasn't finished.
The forecast called for another day of strong southwest winds.
The landfill was still burning.
The threat had been reduced—but it hadn't been eliminated.
Those realities set the stage for the next major decision: whether Potter County Fire Rescue should remain at the landfill overnight.
Chief Richard Lake later summarized his position in six words that would become some of the most significant in the incident reports:
"I did not agree with leaving."
