Tulsa Transit Serves As Cooling Station As Firefighters Battle Pearl District Fire

<p>Obstacles firefighters are facing today are&nbsp;heat and humidity.</p>

Tuesday, August 15th 2017, 6:06 pm

By: News On 6


Obstacles firefighters are facing today are heat and humidity.

Hours of fighting a large fire near downtown Tulsa, during the hottest part of the day, takes a toll on them.

Now, they're trying to recoup after working this fire all day.

And Captain Stan May tells NewsOn 6 keeping cool is one of the biggest obstacles when trying to put a fire like this out.The Tulsa Transit Authority brought a bus on scene as a cooling station.

"They are so hot,” said Tulsa Transit Authority Interim General manager Debbie Ruggles. “They've tried to cool down and yet it is so humid and so sticky out here that it really does take refrigerated air to get cool."

Related Story: Tulsa Firefighters Battling Business Fire In Pearl District

The AC on the bus is turned up on blast so that firefighters can go in, take off their gear, sit down and cool off."

"Really is a great thing for them and they are so appreciative,” Ruggles added.

It is all part of an emergency plan partnership with the city; it just so happened to be right outside the Tulsa Transit Authority's front door.

"Somebody had actually just burned popcorn before this started, so at first we're just thinking, ‘Man, that

popcorn still smells,” said Ruggles.

Ruggles says they were able to jump into action quickly, setting up the cooling station and watching the whole thing unfold.

She says while the fire scared them initially, she's glad it wasn't any of the occupied buildings around them.

"We were happy to learn that our neighbors were safe,” she said. 

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