Okmulgee County Teens Suspected Of Setting Wildfires

Okmulgee County Emergency management said a group of teenagers is intentionally setting wildfires.

With dry, windy conditions, those fires spread quickly and take a lot of manpower to put out.

Emergency management said in a two hour time period Sunday, the teens set 15 separate fires in a four-mile area.

The fires were still smoldering Monday after more than 100 acres burned Sunday night.

Okmulgee County Director of Emergency Management Tim Craighton said around 5 p.m. Sunday, a group of teens in a black Chevy pickup were spotted starting the fires in the area but no one was able to get their tag.

"Just out for meanness...all there is to it," Craighton said. 

Fifteen separate fires were started, the first in neighboring Creek County.

"One of their dispatchers seen the fires and started putting them out by hand and got closer down here towards the winery within a couple miles and they got too big to do that," Craighton said.  

So, they had to call in surrounding volunteer fire crews to help.

"It's rural life and it is frustrating cause you just can't be in the right place at he right time most of the time," Craighton said. 

At one point Craighton says the flames got dangerously close to homes in the area.

"With it so dry it takes nothing for them to take off and spread," Craighton said. 

The Okmulgee County Sheriff's office is keeping an eye out for a truck matching the description of the one from Sunday night.