Starting fires to prevent fires, preparing for another round of wildfires
LUTHER, Okla. (KFOR) - Less than two days after multiple homes burned to the ground in Luther, a man walked through a wooded area northwest of town intentionally starting fires.
He wasn't doing anything illegal, in fact, this was his job for the day.
Cole Hix is a forest ranger and firefighter for the Oklahoma Forestry Department. He spent this calm sunny afternoon doing his best to prevent another fire emergency in eastern Oklahoma County. He and his team were armed with the proper tools - a bulldozer and a forestry torch.
"So what we're doing here is burning a back-burn into the main part of the fire, which takes away the fuels so they can't burn again," said Hix.
The bulldozer was used to slice through a densely wooded property that has been in the danger zone just last week. Fire burned a portion of it, but acre after acre had also been left untouched by the blaze. That meant the ground was still blanketed by underbrush, thickets and dead leaves. All potential kindling for the next wildfire.
The forest rangers had identified this property as one of many that could benefit from back-burning. So armed with the right equipment, the team began setting a series of fires on the property, hoping to burn the underbrush in a safe manner. This kind of strategic burning ends up making the entire community safer. It simply deprives future wildfires of the fuel that would otherwise keep the flames going.
Luke Mohr knows this strategy well. He is a recent graduate of Oklahoma State University's fire protection and safety engineering program. He spends his days thinking about ways to keep fires from spreading. He also grew up on a rural acreage that was recently threatened an by out-of-control wildfire. On Sunday afternoon, he returned to his childhood home just in time to see Hix and the Oklahoma Forestry Service back-burning the neighbor's property.
Mohr has witnessed how this kind of preventative work can ensure the safety of everyone who lives in the area.
"You know, as someone who grew up in a rural area, I really do appreciate the Oklahoma Forestry Service being out here and starting these back-burns to prevent future wildfires in our area," said Mohr.
As Mohr prepared for his workweek, and the task of helping businesses mitigate the risk of fires, Hix and his team finished up the day's back-burn project. Both men are bracing themselves for another possible round of wildfires in Oklahoma.