Lawton fire chief gives tips following Guthrie wildfires

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - The Lawton Fire Department, along with eight other departments from the Stephens and Comanche Counties, responded to a series of wildfires that happened in the Guthrie area.

“So we just wanted to go up and provide any assistance that we could to be able to comfort [citizens], but also to be able to help those firefighters who’ve been engaged firefighting all day, so they could get some rest because they were back out there Saturday morning still looking for those hot-spots and keeping those fires in check,” Fire Chief Jared Williams said.

Williams said LFD was sent out to allow first-in crews a chance to rest Friday evening, with all fires 100% contained just before noon Saturday.

In response to the elevated fire danger, Chief Williams shares three tips on what the community can do to prepare for a similar situation:

Be prepared: make sure your grass is cut and any debris is moved away from your house.
Be connected: “We encourage our citizens to stay tuned to channel seven. You guys do a great job of getting resources out and information out,” said Williams. “Stay tuned to the national weather service, and stay tuned also to social media because as we have fires in our area we’re going to use all the resources we can to make sure our citizens have the information they need if we need them to evacuate, then they have the right information.”
Have a plan: Williams shared, ”Have things together in the house, any medications they may need, so they can get them quickly, get out, and get to safety. We’ll just encourage them to continue to do all three things as we try to do our best to communicate, but also do our best to make sure that this doesn’t happen like it did up in that area.”

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