COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla_Starting Tuesday
morning, Comanche
County will be under a Fire
Weather Watch. At Monday morning's commissioner's meeting, Comanche County Emergency
Management officials said Tuesday's weather conditions create a "perfect
storm" for a fire to start and spiral out of control. So, the county is
discouraging residents from any outdoor burns, even if it is within the
guidelines of the burn ban.
Conditions this
risky are rare. Emergency management officials said the temperature will be
over 100 degrees, with wind speeds at ten to 25 miles per hour. Not to mention,
extremely low humidity, between 15 to 25 percent. When it comes to fires, these
conditions can be a recipe for disaster. They're urging residents to be
cautious.
Pecan Valley resident Russ Channell says he's
concerned about what may happen tomorrow.
He still remembers last year's fire season.
"I was
coming home during a large fire out towards Elgin and the sky was nothing but orange. It
concerns me that out here, we're a long way from the fire department."
He said he will
definitely not burn anything tomorrow and he hopes his neighbors do the same.
That's exactly
what Emergency Management Director Clint Wagstaff wants to hear. He said Tuesday's
conditions are a "powder keg."
"With the
fuel load that we have right now, the grass is very dry. We could have a repeat
of the fires of last year tomorrow. With very explosive, fast-moving fires. If
they do get started we'll be chasing them cross country, a lot of acres will be
burned before we get them under control."
Cache Volunteer
Fire Department Chief Dale Winham said tomorrow's conditions are reminiscent of
last year when the wildfires raged one after another.
"We were
on fires sometimes 24 hours a day. One fire after another due to the
conditions, we were being called back because of rekindles. So, we were
literally fighting some fires two and three times over."
Winham said he
and his crew are always prepared to fight a fire but they will be on high alert.
"The
response time will need to be faster. Calling for mutual aid will need to be
faster. We may over do it, and get more than we need there but it's better to
have a little bit of over kill than to not be there and not have the equipment
we need to put this fire out."
The watch starts tomorrow at 11 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m. The county is
still under a burn ban which ends August 7th.
