On October 29th Kingfisher County 911 Dispatch received a call at approximately 1:54pm advising of fires east of town along Highway 33. Big 4 Fire and the Cashion Fire Department were then paged as well as the Kingfisher Fire Department. There were numerous calls of multiple fires, Kingfisher FD quickly responded by sending a tanker to the scene to support several trucks with water. On High Fire Danger Days like that day, the Kingfisher County Fire Chiefs coordinate with Kingfisher 911 Dispatch in advance and implement a protocol called Fire War Days that implements dispatching the three closest departments in relation to the fire to help with management. Big 4 Fire quickly recognized the need for more help so a county wide all call was placed. At one time there were approximately 5 fires along Highway 33 at one point in time with one of those totaling 2,110 total acres burned as it crossed the river and continued north before it was stopped. Logan County Emergency Management established a North Command Center north of the river to help facilitate the response on that side of the river.
During the October 29th fires Kingfisher experienced 10 residential losses, 2 business structures losses and 1 agriculture structure loss. All structure losses mentioned were north of the Cimarron River. As you can imagine, large amounts of round hay bales were also lost. Two responders were treated for their injuries and released the same evening. The fire was called under control on Wednesday, October 30th at 2:00am. Multiple local agencies responded to this fire crisis including Kingfisher County Emergency Management, Hennessey Fire Department, Loyal Fire Department, Kingfisher Fire Department, Okarche Fire Department, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Cashion Fire Department, Sooner Fire Department, Crescent Fire Department, Twin Lakes Fire Department, LuGreg Trucking, Cimarron Electric Cooperative, Oklahoma Department of Transportation and many more.
While responding, two Kingfisher Fire Departments vehicles and one Logan County vehicle were lost. Those departments were Big 4, Cashion and Crescent. Big 4 lost a fully equipped brushtruck which cost about $219,000 for a 550 on average to replace. Both Cashion and Crescent lost command units which would be around the $120,000 mark. Losing equipment is detrimental to small and volunteer fire departments. It makes it hard to properly serve and cover your area, you lose the opportunity to transport, and you have to rely on your neighbors more. Not to mention the process of getting a new vehicle is a long and tedious one. It could take anywhere from a year to a year and a half before they receive a replacement.
Although we have received copious amounts of rain since these disastrous fires and were recently placed under a frost advisory the fire potential is still high going into the winter months. Discard cigarettes properly and avoid dragging chains.
