Recent Rash Of Wildfires Taking Toll On Volunteer Firefighter Equipment

All the recent wildfires across the Oklahoma have kept firefighters busy. And for a lot of volunteer fire departments, all the extra work is taking a toll on their equipment.

Out in Cleveland County they're still spending time and money on repairs and hoping they don't get called out while those repairs are being made.

"We've had to replace three windows this week, one windshield, one window on the driver's side that got too hot and shattered," said Slaughterville Assistant Fire Chief, Jimmy Blair.

Blair is spending the little spare time he has paying for repairs to volunteer equipment damaged in the fires. It's the same story for many departments News 9 talked to in Cleveland County.

Read more about funds recently approved for rural fire departments by the Oklahoma Legislature.

Little Axe lost a pumper and a couple tires on the only brush truck it has. And those small repairs add up for volunteer fire departments, where firefighters work full-time at other jobs.

"We're holding our own and of course we'll be making runs the next few days. Unless we get another major fire, we'll be alright," Blair said.

They're thankful for the donations they've already received, water and Gatorade. Now they're hoping to pay the repair bills before any more fires start up.

"Inside the burned area, we're getting a lot of calls of trees on fire, stumps, we're cleaning up," said Blair.

For now, they're just cleaning up and thankful for some down time. Friday night the Little Axe Fire Department is having a board meeting at 6:30 p.m. to see how it is going to pay for repairs to its brush truck that lost a pumper. That costs around $3,500 to repair.