Seminole County Emergency Manager Aaron Sowder gave the Board of Seminole County Commissions an informative update concerning the county’s firefighters and the remarkable job they did containing fires during the extremely high winds on Friday. This included a 32-acre blaze near Konawa, where the high winds, with gusts that exceeded 40 mph, were also responsible for blowing over two power poles.

There were other fires in the county that were limited to 12 acres or less, and Seminole Fire Chief Fielding Lucas offers praise and gratitude for the assistance the Seminole FD received from the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) Forestry and Wildlife Management in battling one of those blazes under extremely dangerous conditions.

The Seminole Fire Department Facebook page describes some of the methods that were used to contain the fast-moving wildfire and protect structures that were threatened by the extreme conditions on Friday. This included using back burns and digging fire lines ahead of the flaming front. The post explains this strategic technique involves using a controlled fire to burn up any additional fuel ahead of the wildfire, which uses up the fuel that the blaze needs to continue to spread.

“This method is not only effective, but it also helps to protect surrounding communities and the environment from being burned over by the wildfire,” the post states. “This method of control is also very arduous and labor intensive. It is very high risk being in the smoke and heat from the fire.”

The post adds that all of the Seminole Fire Department grass rigs carry hand tools, drip torches, and leaf blowers. Of course, they also carry water, but the majority of the time the fire is put out with hard work and hand tools.

Konawa Fire Chief Tim Coffey states that the Konawa Volunteer Fire Department was also assisted by the BIA firefighters as well as a truck sent by the Byng fire department in dighting the large fire that was reported southeast of Konawa on Friday. Fortunately, most of that blaze was in the timber, which helps slow the spread down, although the fire did run across a couple of open areas.

As the Konawa Fire Department was finishing up this wildfire another one fire was reported in the Sasakwa area, so Chief Coffey and a Konawa brush truck joined the BIA in offering assistance with that fire.

As a regular item on the agenda, the commissioners discussed implementing a new burn ban, but agreed that the current conditions do not meet the criteria for a ban. They observed that green grass is starting to grow and replace the dry vegetation of late fall and winter, so the threat of wildfires is diminishing.