No Homes Damaged In West Tulsa Grass And Brush Fire

What started as a burning brush pile, soon turned into a scary situation for several folks in West Tulsa county. A grass fire burned through dozens of acres Thursday afternoon near Oakhurst. News on

Thursday, November 9th 2006, 2:45 pm

By: News On 6

What started as a burning brush pile, soon turned into a scary situation for several folks in West Tulsa county. A grass fire burned through dozens of acres Thursday afternoon near Oakhurst. News on 6 reporter Ashli Sims tells us how fire fighters got a big boost from the sky.

Conditions were warm and windy, easy for small fires to get out of control. From the highway it just looked like a big plume of white smoke, but from SkyNews6, you could pinpoint the source. Fire fighters say the flames started with someone burning a brush pile.

It didn't take long for the calls to start pouring in, "While en route our grass rig noticed a significant amount of smoke and we started getting 911 calls that the fire had spread," said Deputy Fire Chief Tom Jenkins.

And it was spreading dangerously close to about a dozen homes. Folks were out trying to stamp out the flames with a shovel to protect their property. "We were pretty worried there for a while, but fortunately due to the hard work of Sand Springs and some of our neighbors. We were able to get real good containment," Jenkins said.

The grassfire continued to smoke hours after the fire was put out. There were even a few hotspots that flared up, but it was in a pretty rocky terrained area, and fire fighters say they wouldn't have been able to get a handle on it so quickly without the help of SkyNews6. "We're operating about a mile away from some of our other units. So any time you're operating that far away even with radios and all the technology in the world nothing beats being able to see it," said Jenkins.

A Sand Springs fire captain took a ride with SkyNews 6 and was able to give vital information to those on the ground. "He was able to give us an accurate account of where the fire was burning and where our crews were operating and whether or not we had containment so it's been a real successful day thanks to your helicopter," Jenkins said.

Truly a successful day, no one was seriously hurt, nothing was damaged.

Even though most of Green Country is not under a burn ban, fire fighters say you need to be extremely careful, especially on windy days.

If you need to burn give your local fire department a call before you do, they can tell you whether the conditions are good.