When the largest wildfire in Texas history made its way to the town of Pampas earlier in the week, 15-year-old Nathan Slater told ABC News that he immediately knew where he had to be.
Just minutes after his mother, Christie, picked him up from school Monday after classes were postponed due to the fires, he told her that he needed to respond to a page from the Hoover Volunteer Fire Department, where he had been training and volunteering for the last couple of months as a junior firefighter.
“It was my first fire to go onto. I was excited and nervous at the same time,” Nathan told ABC News.
When he arrived at the station, he discovered he wasn’t the only teen member of the brigade to answer the call.
MORE: At least 2 dead as largest wildfire in state history tears through Texas PanhandleThroughout the week, the nine junior members of the volunteer fire department were deployed and paired with an experienced adult fighting the wildfires around the town, which forced the evacuation of some homes.
The teens, who range from ages 14 to 17, were given various tasks by their supervisors – from providing water and supplies to members who were in the field, to hosing down the fires and heated grass.
As of March 1, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, centered in the northern Texas panhandle, has burned through more than a million acres in Texas and 25,000 acres in Oklahoma, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The fire was 15% contained as of March 1, the forest service said.
Gage Hardman, 15, told ABC News, that he worked late into the early morning hours for three days straight to help fight the blaze.
He said that he felt some fear as he came close to the smoke and fire but at the same time, there was an adrenaline rush as he helped extinguish the flames.
“Once you get used to it wasn’t scary,” he said, adding of his mindset as he moved through the fires, “It was more of a ‘get through it, you’ll be fine.'”
MORE: Why the Texas Panhandle is seeing such explosive wildfires right nowKade Preston, 17, told ABC News that the brigade’s superior officers were careful to make sure that everyone was safe as they performed their duties. The teens also kept an eye on each other’s well-being during their shifts, Kade said.
