Green Country Volunteer Firefighters On High Alert With Wind, Dry Conditions

Blustery winds on Thursday kept the volunteers at the Green Country Fire Protection District busy. Firefighters rated the danger as "high" on their meter, which sits off New Prue Road. 

Chief Glen Quimby said they were experiencing 36 to 38 mile per hour wind gusts. 

"That's going to produce flame spread rates of somewhere between 185-220 feet per minute and flames somewhere between 13 and 22 feet in length,” Quimby said. 

Before the sun came up, a fire spread near 194th West Avenue and Anderson Road, burning down a shop with several vehicles inside. Next door neighbor Douglas Sailors said his daughter woke him up in the middle of the night. 

"I thought she said our house was on fire, and apparently it wasn't. It was my neighbor,” Sailors said. 

Firefighters said the wind at that time was not a factor, but the flames burned eight acres on the property, and left the home untouched. Firefighters said they are not sure if the fire started inside or outside of the shop. 

"I just hope it's contained enough to where it won't blow anywhere else. That's my main concern,” Sailors said. 

Just a few miles north firefighters said the wind made things worse at a different fire scene. They said a man was using his wood stove and sparks from the chimney started a fire outside. The wind helped spread the flames, burning five or six acres. 

Chief Quimby said the threat is not over. 

"It's going to be pretty similar tomorrow, somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00. I'm not sure what the winds, exactly are going to [be], if they will be as brisk as they are today,” Quimby said. 

Firefighters are urging people to avoid burning right now because of the threat.