The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture has completed their investigation into the Guthrie wildfire that resulted in the death of one man and scorched several thousands of acres earlier this month.
Special Agent Michael Hooper ruled the cause of the Guthrie wildfire, that started to burn on May 4, as undetermined due to the extreme fire behavior and weather conditions.
Related story: Fire over takes Guthrie; one person dead
In the report, several factors were ruled out as to starting the fire, including equipment, smoking, fireworks, debris burn, exhaust as well as other categories. However, the one not excluded as a possible ignition source were power lines.
Expansion of cities into rural wildland areas, USC Price says, is one of the leading causes of wildfires in western states; something that seems to be very particular to this part of the country.
Hooper says an electric power line was in the original area of the fire which was north of Forrest Hills Road and O’Neal Lane. He goes on to say the general origin was located within two utility poles.
“Tree tops were observed in both the lower neutral wire as well as the top energized wire. However, both wires were taken down and examined and no signs of arcing were visible on the wire. In addition, there was no reported loss of power prior to or during the initial stages of the fire,” Hooper said in the report.
According to one report, the fire damaged or destroyed an estimated 60 properties with an estimated value of $944,331. Both Logan and Oklahoma counties Assessor’s Office were together as part of a cooperative effort.
This is CRAP!!! Can you say “coverup”??? They do not wish to be sued by so many effected!!! period! This is sad. “cannot discover the cause”. Give me a break. Tell that to my neighbors who lost all and those who lost a ton or the life lost. This is just unacceptable. It wasnt just spontaneously combustion. They can find a small cig butt or other tiny thing that start other fires but this one is to hard after all the claims of a controlled burn?? I find it awfully funny they sure changed their tune away from controlled burn as it kept burning acres and homes and peoples land. Now they have no recourse to at least go after some sort of compensation. I smell a big bag of bs!