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Floor Speech

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Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, on Monday of this week, I visited the towns of Fritch and Borger in the Panhandle of Texas.

Fritch is a town of roughly 1,800 residents. They are no strangers to hard times. In 1992, a tornado a mile wide ripped through the town and destroyed over 1,300 homes. Ten years ago, in 2014, a wildfire in Fritch destroyed over 100 homes. In the past week and a half, Fritch and the rest of the Texas Panhandle, and the Oklahoma Panhandle as well, have been dealing with devastating wildfires.

When I was there on Monday, 242 homes had been lost. I met with local officials, county judges, mayors, the police chiefs, fire chiefs, volunteers at churches, and charities. I met with families who have been devastated and lost everything.

I saw homes that had been burned beyond recognition. At one home I saw, outside was parked a truck that had been utterly burned and charred. The heat was so intense that the windshield glass had melted, and there were just pools of glass on the hood. I also saw, in front of a house, a motorcycle--I think it was a Harley--that had been utterly incinerated. The tires were burned and gone. I saw a boat--I think it was a bass boat, a fishing boat--again, utterly incinerated, nothing but fiberglass just melted on the ground.

One of the officials I met with was Volunteer Fire Chief Zeb Smith. I met with Chief Smith on Monday. Less than 24 hours after, Chief Smith passed away fighting that wildfire, running into a home that was on fire, trying to stop the blaze. He had been fighting fires for 9 days straight when he entered that home first thing Tuesday morning.

On Monday, I asked Chief Smith: Have any firefighters been injured yet? He said: ``Thankfully, no.''

Neither he nor I knew when we were having that conversation that, 24 hours later, he would be first, and he would give his life to save his community.

These wildfires have been raging for a week and a half, and they devastated communities like Fritch all the way from Lake Meredith to Canadian. One of the fires, the Smokehouse Creek fire, is the largest wildfire in Texas history and the second largest in our Nation's history. The scar from these fires can be seen from space, and they currently cover more acreage than the entire State of Rhode Island.

These fires have had a devastating impact on farmers and ranchers in Texas. More than 500 structures have been lost, and 10,000 miles' worth of barbed wire has been destroyed. It is still unclear exactly how many cattle have perished, but we know it is thousands upon thousands of cattle that have been taken by the fire.

I texted a good friend of mine who lives in Canadian. I told her I was thinking of her and just asked how she was doing and how she was doing with the fires. I didn't expect her response.

She responded: Well, not too well. My home burned down, so did my barn, and I lost half my cattle.

But then she responded: Do you know what? I am actually feeling pretty lucky because the ranchers on both sides of me lost all their cattle.

I have to say I prayed for my friend. I prayed for all the men and women in the panhandle. But that response also embodies the frontier spirit. These are tough Texans.

The destruction we are seeing is enormous. Throughout all of this, to date, there have been only three deaths attributed to the wildfires. That is extraordinary given the magnitude of this disaster as there could easily have been scores and scores of deaths. That is a testament to the firefighters and the first responders in the panhandle who have been tirelessly working to get people out of harm's way and to contain the fires. At times, the fires have been traveling more than 200 yards per second. That is how fast these fires have been moving.

Right now, as this disaster is unfolding in Texas, the first priority is to contain these fires, to put them out. Texans are working to stop their spread. The weather has been a big factor. A few days ago, fortunately, there was some cold. There was some wet weather with snow and ice. That slowed the fires some, but then the weather got drier and windier, which are ideal conditions for spreading fire. So, right now, there are firefighters heroically battling massive fires, risking their lives.

When I was there, I was told that over 60 fire departments from across Texas and across the country have sent firefighters to battle the blaze. Monday night, I was at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and I saw the Houston fire chief. He told me Houston had sent firefighters all the way up to the panhandle to help battle the blaze.

To anyone in the panhandle who sees this, I want to ask you: Please listen very, very carefully to your local officials. Listen to emergency responders. If they give you an evacuation order, treat it seriously. Keep your families safe. At the end of the day, it is tragic when someone loses a home, but a home can be replaced. Your family members cannot.

This fire is dangerous, and our first priority needs to be preserving life and getting people out of harm's way. The second step is to shift to relief and rebuilding, and rebuilding is a process that is going to take years. In the short term, there are charities that have stepped up and are engaged, including the Salvation Army and the Red Cross and their local churches.

You know, I want to say something. I have been in the Senate for 12 years. Texas is a big State, and as a big State, we have our share of natural disasters--from hurricanes ravaging the gulf coast, to tornadoes doing enormous devastation, to this wildfire raging in the panhandle right now. As Texas's Senator, it is my responsibility to stand with those communities in a time of crisis and in the aftermath rebuilding.

Every time we have had a natural disaster in Texas, it is heartbreaking when you see the loss of life and the suffering, but, consistently, it is also inspiring. It is inspiring because of the reaction of Texans in a time of crisis. They come together, Texans helping Texans, holding on to each other, supporting each other.

When Hurricane Harvey hit the gulf coast and home after home was flooded, I remember Texans would go and rescue their neighbors. They were jumping on bass boats because the streets were flooded, and they would go from house to house, pulling people out of harm's way. Rednecks in bass boats is what I called them, and it was the spirit of Texas. The beauty in that time is there are no partisan divisions. There are no Republicans and Democrats. People don't care about race or ethnicity or religion. It is just Texans helping Texans. That is what I saw in Fritch and Borger, that same spirit of Texans helping Texans.

I will tell you, in a time of crisis, the church steps up, and the church should. The church should show love.

When I was in the panhandle, I stopped at multiple churches and relief centers. I thanked the volunteers who were there. They were giving out food. They were giving out water. They were giving out diapers. They were giving out supplies for people who had lost everything, and I thanked them.

I visited with one woman whose home had burned down, and her daughter's home had burned down. Yet, I will tell you, she was smiling and was in good spirits.

She said: Do you know what? My family is alive and safe.

I mentioned that, in Fritch, 242 homes had burned down. The county judge told me, though, there were only half a dozen people in the local shelter they had stood up because everyone else whose home had burned down was presumably staying with friends or family or loved ones. It was other Texans who said: Hey, you lost your home; come stay with me. That is inspiring. It is powerful. That is what Texans do.

There are also things we can and should do at the Federal level to help the panhandle. With every local official, I assured: Do you have the Federal resources you need? Do you have the assistance right now in crisis?

Then, going forward, my office has been working hand in hand with State officials and local officials and is beginning to coordinate Federal resources to fight the fires. Indeed, I have already filed an amendment to the minibus the Senate is considering right now to increase the funding for wildfire relief to help the people impacted by this. I will continue working on measures to provide disaster relief for Texans in harm's way--from the people who have lost their homes to our ranchers who have suffered the devastating loss of livestock. We need to stand with the panhandle and help recover from this historic disaster.

There is an old panhandle saying up there that people have ``Panhandle Spirit''--a spirit of humility; a spirit of companionship; a spirit that when a neighbor needs help, by God, you help him. The whole country has seen that spirit in the past few days. Thousands of bales of hay and cattle feed have been trucked up daily from ranchers wanting to help out fellow ranchers. Hundreds of pallets of water and food and clothes have been donated to help people in need.

That same spirit that built Texas is the same spirit that makes the Lone Star State so unique. That is the spirit that keeps our firefighters fighting the blazes, that keeps our ranchers rebuilding the fences and people picking up the pieces and rerooting in the land they love.

Together, with that same spirit and that same determination that people in the Panhandle Plains have had for generations, we will rebuild. We will come back even stronger than ever.

God bless our firefighters, and God bless our first responders. God bless all the Texans who have lost their homes in the past few days and those Texans who have lost loved ones. We are praying for you, and we will help you rebuild.

I would like to close by again talking about Chief Smith.

The loss of Zeb Smith has left a huge hole in the community. On social media, the Fritch Volunteer Fire Department wrote:

Just know that right now we are not OK. We love our chief, our brother, our friend. Please be patient with us.

The Hutchinson County Office of Emergency Management team stated about Chief Smith:

His exemplary leadership was evident in his tireless efforts over the past week, where he worked diligently to protect and safeguard his community and fellow citizens.

Chief Smith was a hero. His name will not be forgotten. In his honor, I had a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol to recognize his heroic service. Chief Smith gave his life on Tuesday of this week so that his fellow Texans could live.

To the family and friends and loved ones of Chief Smith, we are mourning with you, and we are celebrating a life well lived.

May God bless the people of Texas. We will defeat these wildfires.

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