I passed through Mineral Wells this week and feel like I may not be spending enough time there. Loyal Scaiaholics will recall I first started getting to know the town back in 2011 when wildfires were burning around Possum Kingdom Lake.

I’m sorry to say I was again passing through Mineral Wells because Possum Kingdom Lake is aflame once again.

For journalism students, “Go as far as the roadblock” is a good piece of advice. Of course, when I covered those last fires, I wandered into the Graford Fire Department to shove my microphone into the face of volunteer firefighters to ask how it was going. They answered by shoving me onto their truck and taking me right past the roadblock to see how it really is.

“Rule number one out here: don’t panic,” a Graford volunteer firefighter said to me at one point. “But right now, we all need to get in the truck because the fire’s about to jump us. Don’t panic. But get in the truck, first.”

So this time, I was prepared to hang out and stopped a church that had opened as a shelter.

One of the firefighters from the Possum Kingdom Westside Volunteer Fire Department was also hanging out, but that wasn’t by choice; firefighters don’t care for taking a rest and maybe getting something to eat right now.

After explaining he was declining to take the next day off, he pointed to the woman at the next table whose son had been fighting the fire… until it surrounded him.

He’s okay, but her other son also wants to become a firefighter to prevent her from ever getting a good night’s sleep again.

The pastor of the church said people started showing up with food and supplies, so they were serving evacuees and also making runs to the fire lines to drop off meals for the firefighters on duty.

You can hear the church’s treasurer in the background prompting him with all the restaurants that donated. She says it’s tough to see people putting themselves in danger, but it’s also reassuring to see a tight knit community coming together and so many others willing to risk themselves for people they don’t know.

She mentions firefighters coming from Georgia. The Texas A&M Forest Service says firefighters have also come from California and Massachusetts.

With these firefighters from all over the country spending time here, we should introduce them to local culture. The 2011 fires introduced me to Mary’s Cafe in Strawn. But a sign in Mineral Wells intrigued me so much I decided against stopping for a pan-fried CFS to learn more.

I texted an associate who has family in the area.

“Have you drunk the water yet?!?” he replied.

I did not understand the question. Mineral Wells had taken the sign down back in 1958 but had it restored a couple years ago. Now its water even has its own website so I could learn more.

“I’ve got to stop and try this stuff!” I declared.

Tragically, they weren’t doing tours because it had been over 95 degrees and level-headed water was falling from the sky.

So instead, I dropped by the only legitimate washing machine museum in the world.

If you think the idea of opening a washing machine museum is crazy, perhaps you are the one who needs a drink of Mineral Wells’ crazy water. When I talked to that gentleman back in the olden days, he said it was helping business.

I believe his exact words were, “You have zero laundry to do, and you still came in here.”