OKC Fire Department Fights 24 Grass Fires In Two Days

Oklahoma City firefighters have been busy with grass fires this month.

In fact, the department has responded to 24 wildfires since Saturday morning.

A field near Eastern Avenue and Hefner Road caught fire twice over the weekend and the wind is unrelenting for fire departments.

“Just since Saturday morning, we've had 24 wildland fires, mostly grass, right here in Oklahoma City, and that's quite a bit,” Oklahoma City fire District Chief Benny Fulkerson said.

Oklahoma City firefighters said the fires are happening all times of day, all times of night and all over town.

“It's not just on the outskirts of town where we have the more rural part of town. It's also right here in town where you wouldn't really expect for there to be a lot of grass,” Fulkerson said.

Most of the 24 grass fires have been three acres or less and were quickly put out.

In years past, Oklahoma City would have already had some massive wildfires, but that has not happened this year because of all that rainfall earlier in the year.

“We have all this vegetation that is just waiting to become dormant and become fuel and as that happens we are going to start seeing some of this now,” Fulkerson told News 9.

The fires have been caused by all sorts of reasons, like cigarettes thrown out by the road or chains hanging from trucks that spark a fire.

“A lot of times, it's the power lines that are arcing with the wind we've been having over the past couple of days,” Fulkerson said.

More wind and heat this week means the fire threat increases again.

“An ember, a spark from a fire can actually travel a mile or more downwind and cause a fire a mile away,” Fulkerson said.

Since September 1, Oklahoma City firefighters have responded to 73 wildfires.

They expect to see more wildfires over the next month or so.

The fire department asks residents to pay a little more attention to what they are doing outside if it involves a flame or something that sparks, even as simple as mowing your yard.