A somber grey granite monument to the men who died in the Moore County Disaster of 29 July 1956 stands in a place of eternal remembrance on the southeast corner of the Moore County Courthouse grounds in downtown Dumas TX.
The monument text reads as follows:
"Ray Biles
Lewis A. Broxon
O.W. “Shine” Cleveland
Gilford Corse
Billy Joe Dunn
Claude L. Emmett
Alvin W. Freeman
Sam A. Gibson
Durwood C. Lilley
Charles W. Lummus
Oliver Milligan
Paschel Poole
James E. Rivers
M. Wayne Slagle
Wayne Thomas
Donald W. Thompson
Gayle D. Wier
Ruebert S. “Cotton” Wier
Joe W. West
But whether on the plains so high
On in the battle’s Van,
The fittest place where man can die
Is where he dies for Man
Dedicated to those who gave their lives in
the Moore County Disaster on
July 29, 1956"
From the Handbook of Texas Online, a brief sentence on this disaster in the article on Moore County as a whole: (
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"On July 29, 1956, the county's worst disaster, a fire at the Shamrock-McKee plant near Dumas, killed nine plant employees and ten firemen."
More on this awful tragedy can be found in the files of the Amarillo Globe-News: (
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"19 firefighters died at refinery in 1956
Posted: Saturday, February 17, 2007
Karen Smith Welch
karen.welch@amarillo.com
A disaster that ranks third behind Sept. 11, 2001, in total firefighter deaths in the United States occurred 50 years ago at Valero Energy's McKee Refinery near Dumas.
Nineteen firefighters died in the July 29, 1956, explosive firestorm that also injured at least 30, including lashing severe burns upon bystanders a quarter of a mile away, according to Industrial Fire World Magazine.
"My father was the 19th to die. He was also the last to die," said Larry Lilley, a 62-year-old retired Lubbock Fire District chief.
D.C. Lilley, a volunteer firefighter and equipment manager on Sunray's Engine One, was 39.
"As near as I can tell, his fire- truck was on the downhill side and approximately 400 feet away, we think," said Larry Lilley, who was 11 back then. "My father was found underneath his firetruck."
The blaze began with an explosion in the early morning hours at what was then the Shamrock Oil and Gas McKee plant, according to a December 2006 article in the magazine.
Amid heavy vapors stirred by a light southwest wind, firefighters toiled against the ground fire at the refinery's tank farm and doused tanks with water to keep them cool.
"Heat from the blaze of the first explosion, which was between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m., ignited fuels in other nearby tanks and sent up a vast cloud of dense black smoke which dominated the northern skies throughout the day," according to the July 30, 1956, Amarillo Daily News. "So intense was the heat from the initial explosion that bystanders standing a quarter of a mile away received severe burns and all within 100 yards were charred beyond recognition. ...
"Those who escaped the blast alive said a huge fireball moved out over the area where the firemen were working, consuming everything it touched. The heat blistered paint on cars and trucks parked several hundred yards away and set weeds and bushes on fire."
Lilley said many of the firefighters must have realized another explosion was imminent, "because I think most of them were burned from the back to the front. The doctor that wrote the death certificate for my father, he did not know how to describe the burns, and the cause of death was listed as fourth- to sixth-degree burns.
"Most people only know of first-, second- and third-degree burns, so you can imagine what the other three are like."
As he spoke, Lilley looked at photographs of his father and newspaper clippings about the disaster and about firefighters he has known in his own career who perished. He talked quietly, his pauses of grief palpable through the phone line.
"I don't think most people have an idea of what it's like for people in the fire service or their families - and I can't expect them to because they haven't had to live night and day with it," he said.
The explosion left behind a grisly scene. Against a backdrop of fire, crews removed bodies found 300 to 400 feet from the explosion, said Lilley, whose father survived the blast, but later died at Moore County Memorial Hospital.
The disaster left 35 children fatherless, the Amarillo Globe-Times reported.
Lilley recalls the seemingly endless funerals.
"We happened to live across the street from the First Baptist Church in Sunray," he said. "Four of the funerals were held right across the street from our house, of which my dad's was the last. It's approximately a mile and a quarter from town to the cemetery."
Lilley paused, then resumed in a soft, halting cadence.
"I can remember, from the church to the cemetery, I don't know where the people came from, but there wasn't a single space that wasn't filled.
"My only regret is that my family, my wife, my children, grandchildren, never got to meet my father."
Outside assistance rushed to the site: area firefighters, personnel from the Amarillo Air Force Base and National Guard, the Red Cross. The blaze was knocked down but continued to burn into the next day. Lilley said he believes it was about a week before it finally burned out.
In April, Valero - which now operates the plant - honored the fallen firefighters in a ceremony naming it's newest McKee refinery firefighting facility "Station 19," signifying the number who died.
Lilley and his mother, Dorothy, were among 600 people, including other victims' relatives, who attended the ceremony, he said.
"Valero did an excellent job," he said. "They've gone out to do as much as they know to do. You can't bring people back. That's never going to happen."
The new station is the second for the plant, which has a brigade of 63 firefighters, Industrial Fire World Magazine reported.
"Entering Station 19, the first impression is that it is a museum," the magazine said. "The entrance opens into a small area reserved as a memorial to the Sunray disaster. Nineteen plaques, each bearing the name of a fallen firefighter, adorn the wall.""
The pain of this awful day still reverberates around the state.
From the Sunray Forum on the Texas Escapes website: (
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"Sunray Texas Forum
Subject: July 29, 1956. Sunray/Shamrock Refinery fire
I would like to add to my brother's, Randy Foshee, comments from 2006. I spent time with my Dad, Darce Foshee, a couple of years ago talking about the fire. In my brother's comments he mentions the men running when they realized the tank had blown. I asked Dad what went through his mind at that moment. He had said the flames were over their heads and coming down, and he thought, "Let's get it over with." I've never felt more proud of my Dad than at that moment. I thank God that I got to have that conversation with him. The family of Ray Biles, one of Dad's best friends, wasn't afforded that opportunity, and I grieve for them after all these years. Ray lives in my memory because of the good times Dad has shared about him. I just thought people should know more of the personal story involved in "the moment". - Jamey Foshee, May 03, 2012
Subject: Refinery Fire
I will never forget July 29, 1956. I was five years old. The fire siren in Sunray blew and we could see the smoke from the refinery north of Dumas. My mother was very scared because my Dad was a volunteer fireman in Sunray. When the phone rang later my mother started crying... Dad had been badly burned when one of the tanks exploded. Later, Dad said he could tell the tank was about to go and he and the men with him began to run. There was a small berm nearby and Dad was able to get to it. The flames went over Dad and burned the back of his head and severely burned his arms... but he survived as did other men from the Sunray volunteer fire department. Sadly, others from the small community fire department did not. Even though I was very young at the time, I remember some of the men who died that day and how the whole town of Sunray mourned. Yes, they are heros.... from a time and place where heroism really meant something. - Randy Foshee, Canon City, Colorado, September 01, 2006
Subject: Fire at Diamond Shamrock July 29, 1956 - 50 Year Memorial
There were 19 men killed by fire and explosion with 33 people injured. Four men who were fatally injured were employees of the refinery, and thus not included as members of either Dumas or Sunray Volunteer Fire Departments.
At least one man (D.C. Lilley) had his name misspelled [on the monument]. His correctly spelled name is D.C. Lilley. As his son I have quite a lot of info on this incident. There are monuments in Sunray and Dumas and a 50 year memorial is planned for 2006 in Dumas.
The NYC firefighters were all headed upward on 9-11-01. They are among heroes anywhere. Out of over 5 million people, 343 firefighters died that day. On July 29, 1956, nine men ( 8 firefighters and 1 refinery employee) died among a town with a population of 1,240.
I consider them all heroes as well as the men who found them and carried them to medical services. (We don't know who most of them were.) They have my eternal thanks. The burial of most of these men was at Lane Memorial Cemetery located one mile N. of Sunray and approx 1/4 mile east on a (now paved) FM road.
Four of these men were members of the First Baptist Church of Sunray.They were Broxson, Emmett, D.C. Lilley, and Weir. Funerals were held on July 30 and 31, 1956 with mourners lining both sides of the road from the church to Lane Memorial Cemetery.
I lived northwest across from the church and watched these funerals. My father's being the last. All funerals were closed casket from this refinery fire and explosion.
My biggest regrets are my family not meeting my father.
Thanks for the article and time you've spent setting up this website. May God Bless. - Larry Lilley, Retired Fire Dist. Chief of the Lubbock Fire Department, Active duty: 27 years, 2 months, Lubbock, Texas, March 19, 2006
Subject: Firefighters of Sunray and Dumas
In 1957 the Shamrock Oil refinery just south of Sunray exploded and burned. While fighting the fire, the ENTIRE voluteer fire departments of Sunray and Dumas were killed in the fire and subsequent explosions. The fire burned for days and many area firefighters valliantly fought the inferno. The firefighters from Amarillo Airforce Base arrived with their foam trucks and turned the tide. My cousin Donald Thompson was a young volunteer fireman from Dumas and he died at the nozzle that day. - Doug Thompson, Garland, Texas - February 18, 2004"
What strikes Blasterz most about this memorial and what we have learned setting up this waymark how many young family members of those lost that day followed the footsteps of the men who dies by themselves joining the fire service.
Wow. That is pure courage.