COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla_As the intense
flames swept through, firefighters from all over Oklahoma were on the front lines trying to
put it out. Firefighters said their biggest hurdle in this particular wildfire
was the wind, which helped fuel the fire and change course in an instant. In
order to put it out, they had to think on their feet in often dangerous
situations, while fighting through the heat and exhaustion.
Imagine trying
to work your way through intense smoke. That is what firefighters had to deal
with over the past few days, trying to put out the wildfire. Kevin Rhoads of
the McClain County Task Force said the obstacles didn't end there.
"The
conditions are terrible the winds last night probably came up to 35 gusting to
40 maybe. The heat is, obviously daytime heat is terrible. You add the heat
from the fire and it is extremely hard on firefighters"
He said those
gusty winds made the fire spread quickly and firefighters had a tough time
staying ahead of it.
"What we
were looking for was wheat stubble fields particularly at this fire. A couple
of miles north of here we were hoping we'd get there to stand a fighting chance
so to speak. We needed a place with short grass anything the fire can't feed on."
Firefighters
said they were calling the area along Highway 19 their Alamo,
or their last stand, because they couldn't let flames get past that point. They
said if flames did pass the highway, they would have threatened homes in Gotebo.
"We did
have farm homes out in the area that we were worried about. However, as we move
into smaller little towns, we have a major problem of losing more homes or
possibly injuring or killing individuals," Cache Fire Chief Dale Winham
said.
Winham said
their tactic worked and helped keep the homes of residents in threatened areas
safe.
One woman whose
family has owned land for over a century said when she and her family were
forced to evacuate, she wasn't sure what they'd find when they returned. She
said she's grateful that firefighters managed to spare her land from the
flames, which stopped at the edge of her property.
Chief Winham said at one point, there were almost 100 fire trucks from
various counties across the state helping put out the wildfire. Comanche County
Emergency Management officials said although there were some firefighters who
suffered heat exhaustion, there have been no injuries related to the wildfire.
