Dewey County Oklahoma Fire

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sage5907

sage5907

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I was born on a farm in Dewey County, Oklahoma and have property there. There has been less than an inch of rain in the last 6 months and this past week we had and are still having a terrible fire. It was started near Rhea by someone welding and as of now it has burned 451 square miles. Many homes have been lost and thousands of cattle and wildlife animals are dead. It hardly makes the national news but it is important to those who care. If you want to see pictures go to YouTube and type in Dewey County Oklahoma Fire April 14, 2018. I will try to add pictures to this post.
 
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There's another good video that will take your breath away. Just imagine being there. It is on YouTube and its titled Rhea Fire tops 260,000 acres in western Oklahoma. The machine won't let me post it but you can watch on YouTube. If you have ever been around a big fire it will take your breath away.
 
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That is a massive fire. Livestock and wildlife suffer terribly in these fires.

Good news is rain last night and this morning assisted in containing the fires. The Dewey fire has grown to 450 square miles.

One of the problems containing these fires is eastern red cedar trees, an invasive species here. Fire fighting teams will be about to get control when a red cedar tree will literally explode in flames and spread fire everywhere.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rainfall-aiding-containment-of-2-largest-Oklahoma-12853546.php
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Yesterday evening the fire was only 25% contained but last night and this morning we received .7 inch of rain. It won't stop the fires but it will really help. A outpouring of generosity from farmers in other areas is really helping. Several hundred truck loads of hay have been delivered or are on the way from States as far away as Michigan. It's a great Country!
 
The area inside the red lines covers 241,000 acres. The fire has increased in size to over 286,000 acres today. The straight dotted lines are the county boundaries. The land total of the county is 1,008 square miles. The total burned is 451 square miles which is 44.7 percent of the land area. The town of Seiling lies where the highway 183 marker is located, and it is 40 miles from Seiling to Leedey. dewey county fire.jpg
 
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This is a picture of a convoy of trucks hauling donated hay to feed the animal coming from farmers all over the Country. The trucks are arriving at Gore's truck stop in Seiling, Oklahoma for distribution to needy farmers. When the grass burns the cattle and wildlife hay trucks to seiling.jpg have nothing to eat.
 
Those billowing fire balls are cedar trees literally exploding in flame: Fire crews don't dare get anywhere near cedars. i can't understand why property owners don't cut those cedars. They really do trash the pastures. Cedars suck unbelievable quantities of water from the soil.

Young cedars often grow in the drip line of large oak trees. It's not unusual to find 30-50 six foot cedars growing under one oak tree. My properties west of I-35 were overrun with red cedars but i''ve whipped them.
 
This is what the Camargo Fire Department looks like when all the trucks are gone to fight the fire. Also, a picture of the water and drinking supplies. The Camargo Fire Chief is a local farmer and in the picture wearing short pants. Camargo Fire Department Building.jpg Camargo Fire Department Stores.jpg Camargo Fire Department.jpg
 
The newsies focus on houses and then, maybe, cattle--but they don't realize the cost of rebuilding fences. And the wildlife losses are severe. Ground-nesting birds as well as the small critters, plus such as deer and elk.
 
Had a couple friends that went to help fight those fires last week. She showed me some videos he took. Pretty impressive fires. They had embers spark new fires up to 1/2 mile away.

No fire breaks or amount of pumped water is going to stop that fire. Not with 35-50mph winds. We need lots of rain and calm wind or it’s just going to have to run out of fuel. They were having to go 2 section lines ahead of the fire just to keep up. He said they weren’t even concerned with the ground. Just structures. Even then, there’s only so much you can do.

They lost a grass rig and almost lost 3 firefighters from another town. Luckily they had another truck operator who was way to brave that literally drove through the fire to save those guys who were trapped.
 
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