With tinderbox conditions due to extreme drought, consistent triple-digits temperatures for the past month and gusting winds from the south, it was only a matter of time Friday before Southwest Oklahoma would see another explosion of fires.
Comanche/Cotton County line fire
Shortly after noon Friday, an all-hands-on-deck call was made for a rapid response from both Cotton and Comanche counties to a rapidly growing grass fire that began in a field south of Logue Chapel Road and east of Devine Road.
Walters Fire Department called in support and, according to Comanche County District 1 Commissioner Ryan John, firefighters from most if not every volunteer department in Comanche County and the Lawton Fire Department and Bureau of Indian Affairs joined their Cotton County compatriots to do battle while both counties’ emergency management teams worked in coordinating the effort as well as recovery operations for the firefighters in need of relief.
John called in District 1 grader operators Jeff Sparks and Walter Cooper to join in carving firebreaks throughout the grassland to help stave off its spread.
As crews began to move from active to mop up status around 2:45 p.m., John was on the phone and commenting on the coordination between all the departments, his county crews and local farmers who assisted.
“This is a helluva show,” he said.
He wasn’t wrong. The threat to property, structures, and lives was real as wind gusts from the south up to 25 mph had pushed the southern-borne fire northward with flames jumping roads and on both the east and west sides of Logue Chapel Road.
An immediate evacuation order was issued shortly before 2 p.m. for Cotton County residents west of County Road 2600 to U.S. 277, south of 1780 north to County Road 1750, due to a large wildfire. The evacuation order would be lifted shortly before 4:30 p.m.
By 5:15 p.m., the fire was reported contained by Comanche County-Lawton Emergency Management. Deputy Director Alana Pack said the cause and expanse of the fire were still trying to be determined and more information will be released as soon as possible.
As this operation was in the thick of it, volunteers were called to the northern part of Comanche County.
Sterling fire
Shortly before 2 p.m., an emergency response led by the Elgin Fire Department and a grader from District 1 were sent into action for a fire that burned on the east side of Sterling in northeastern Comanche County.
The fire began growing fast, threatening structures, however, around the time the fire to the south was in mop up stage, so was Sterling’s. John said he’d been told around 30 acres had burned.
A third fire
Pack reported that shortly after 3 p.m., an outside fire was reported in southwest Comanche County. Fire crews from Indiahoma, Cache, Pecan Creek and Chattanooga responded from the Comanche/Cotton County fire.
More information will be available soon.
To avoid instigating any more fires, Pack asked that people refrain from anything that could cause sparks or flames.
“Our units are stretched thin,” she said.
