Fire departments battled large grass fire on the ground and in the air

Emergency crews had a busy afternoon on Monday after a wildfire broke out just south of Guthrie near the intersection of Pine St. and Seward Rd. In addition to firefighters, the Oklahoma Forestry Services and an aircraft tanker helped extinguish the fire.

Fire crews responded to the large grass fire at the northwest corner of the intersection, which was moving rapidly to the north with wind gusts well over 30 mph from the south.

Woodcrest Fire Chief Luke Young immediately called for additional resources from several fire departments, including Woodcrest, Guthrie, Sooner, Edmond, Oak Cliff, Coyle and Cashion.

In total, estimated 42 acres burned in the heavily wooded area. It’s uncertain what caused the fire. Related story: Fire officials show path of Monday’s grass fire

“Due to the amount of hard timbers and cedar trees, access to the fire was difficult,” Young said. “Oklahoma Forestry Services had crews staged in Guthrie which provided a quick response within 20 minutes of the start of the fire.”

Forestry provided two dozers to help cut the fire breaks around the perimeter while up in the air an aircraft Air Tanker was called in for aerial drops over the burned areas and the difficult areas crews could not access.

The largest threat was to the Triple Crown housing addition, which fire crews were able to keep the fire away.

“Ground crews made a great stand on Pine St. and kept it from jumping the road,” Young said.

Young further stated the air drops played an instrumental role.

“The air tanker made approximately 15 drops at 1,600 gallons each drop. After the air drops were finished, the fire was contained with only few hot spots left,” Young said.

The aircraft was spotted by several people  filling up with water by flying on top of Gurhrie Lake.

During the fire, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office were forced to shut down Pine St. from Seward Rd, Pine St. to Camp, and eastbound traffic on Seward Rd for several minutes.

Red Cross provided relief for crews and Young was quick to thank Logan County Emergency Manager, David Ball, with his assistance from the command post.

No structures were lost and there were no reports of any injuries to firefighters.