Published: April 23, 2008 07:23 am      

Firefighters spend Sunday in Ellis County

By Rowynn Ricks

Staff Writer



Big.

That’s how Ellis County Emergency Manager Russell Miller described the wildfire that consumed an estimated 20,000 or more acres southeast of Arnett Sunday.

“The firefighters are telling me that it’s the largest grass fire in the last 50 years in Ellis County,” Miller said.

The fire blazed through a swath of land almost 11 miles long and three and a half miles wide at its widest point, he said.

With winds driving the flames, the fire was pushed toward Arnett, Miller said.

“It actually got within a few miles of Arnett,” he said, noting that emergency agencies were on standby in case an evacuation of the community was necessary.

Fortunately, though, Miller said with the help of road graders from Woodward and other area counties they got the blaze under control before an evacuation of the town was necessary.

However, he said officials with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol did have to evacuate a few homes southeast of Arnett.

“There were six or eight houses in danger,” Miller said.

But firefighters were able to get around those houses that were in immediate danger, he said, noting that luckily the fire never reached some of them.

“No livable houses were damaged,” he said.

An estimated 45 to 50 fire departments from the tri-state area responded to the blaze with 175 to 200 various fire apparatus, Miller said.

“It took lots of cooperation from a lot of people,” he said.

In addition, he said “Roy Anderson and the OHP plane was up there helping us.”

“He (Anderson) was a great asset,” Miller said.

The fire, which started as a controlled burn, began to spread out of control around 12:15 p.m. Sunday, Miller said.

The firefighters were battling the blaze until 8:30 p.m. when most departments were sent home, he said.

“Arnett kept a unit out there most of the night,” he said.

Arnett still had units out at the site monitoring hot spots until winds calmed Monday afternoon, Miller said.

“The wind laying down sure helped us,” he said.

However, he said the area could still use some rain and noted that it has been a bad year for fires in Northwest Oklahoma.

“These grass fires are getting out of hand,” Miller said.

“Last year Arnett responded to 58 fires for the total year,” he said. “This year they’ve already responded to 75.”

A lot of the problem has been from controlled burns getting out of control because those handling the burns haven’t sufficiently prepared the fields, Miller said.

A big issue is fire guards, he said, suggesting that farmers contact their local OSU Extension agent for more information about safety guidelines for controlled burns.

Responding to all these fires has left Arnett and many other overworked fire departments in the area financially strained, Miller said.

“They’re really hurting in finances,” he said, noting that “every fire department in Ellis County is volunteer and they’ve been worked to death this year.”

What makes the situation even worse is that Ellis County’s application for disaster relief was denied, Miller said, noting that he is still talking with officials from Oklahoma Emergency Management to understand why Sunday’s fire didn’t qualify for assistance.

He said he is also talking with area legislators to see if there is some other way to “get something to help those people.”

Residents in Northwest Oklahoma should also consider supporting their local fire departments in any way they can, Miller said, noting that departments like Arnett’s often depend on donations they raise through various local fundraisers.