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  • Bray firefighters work together to extingush a large grassfire Thursday afternoon. Joshua Kellogg/The Duncan Banner

    Keeping busy
August 29, 2011

Firefighters busy after brief quiet spell

Hot, dry weather cause of increase in number of fires

Rebeka Rutledge The Duncan Banner

DUNCAN — In the past 10 days, the fire departments of Stephens County have once again been busy dealing with grassfires and other incendiary blazes. Following a slowdown on making fire runs during the last half of July and early August, it seems as if something has changed.

However, the opinion of several Stephen County fire chiefs is that there’s nothing really extraordinary happening and the dry, hot weather is still to blame for the recent increase.

“The weather causes things to happen in cycles,” said Dayton Burnside, deputy fire chief of the Duncan Fire Department. “It’s not going to take much for a spark to catch right now and fires are going to spread quickly.”

Electrical lines have been the cause of a couple of the more recent incidents, but the fire chiefs want to make sure people are aware of their surroundings and their activities outdoors. They also want to remind residents the burn ban that has been in place since April is still in effect.

“So far, everyone has been observing the ban,” Marlow Fire Chief Chris Herron said. “People just need to be conscious of what they are doing.”

Being aware includes making sure precautions are taken every time citizens use equipment that may produce a spark or produces extreme heat. Just a slight spark can cause a fire in these hot, dry drought conditions.

Loco recently received about a half inch of rain and some people took that as a sign that the burn ban was lifted. This is not the case, according to Loco Volunteer Fire Department Chief Glenn Knutson.

“It still isn’t safe,” he said. “The grass is still dry and it’s just as dangerous as before.”

With the recent spike in fires, people may be concerned about the fire department’s water supply. Among the department heads responding, none have noticed dire conditions in water volume.

“We have been doing fine in that area,” said Herron. “We’ve been very well provided with municipal water, as well as drinking water.”

Although the majority of the fires can be traced to something involving weather conditions, a structure fire at Lake Humphreys and a blaze at Duncan’s North Industrial Park in the past week are under investigation by the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal’s office.

“There will be official reports released over these two incidents on Monday,” noted Burnside.

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