Wednesday morning December 15th, at 11:13am, a grass fire north of Goodwell approximately 4 miles was reported to the Texas County 911 Center. Initially 3 of the nearest Fire Departments responded which were Goodwell, Guymon, and Texhoma. “As Fire units were arriving on scene, wind conditions were already reaching 50mph and expected to greatly increase over the next 2 hours” said Guymon Fire Chief and Incident Commander Grant Wadley.
The fire began to grow in size and move in a northeastern direction with the City of Guymon being in the path 8 miles away. Additional Firefighters from all of Texas County along with an Oklahoma Forestry Service Task Force team that was staged in Guymon the night before began to respond to this large fire. “The largest challenge was protecting homes, structures, and livestock with flames lengths 40-60 feet in lengths and traveling faster than any fire truck unit could possibly travel”, Chief Wadley stated. Use of Texas County road graders and tankers were called upon immediately and greatly assisted.
The head of the fire was stopped approximately 2 miles northwest of Guymon just before reaching Hwy 64 at 7:45pm. An evacuation was in place for homes and businesses on the far west and north portion of Guymon at one point during this fire. Guymon Police, Texas County Sheriff, and members of the DA Task Force all worked to achieve this in a very short time as the fire was raging towards the western edge of Guymon. Once the fire was stopped, Firefighters continued into the night and early morning hours containing the fire within parameters. Additional Fire Strike teams from Beaver County and Guthrie, OK were used in this fire. Estimated 8000-10,000 acres burned in this fire with many homes saved and only 2 known storage buildings burned.
This fire occurred on one of the highest extreme fire danger possible. Known expected winds of 80+mph, humidity in the single digits, and dry natural grasses fuel load at incredible high levels.
The Guymon Fire Department along with all the area Fire Departments that responded what to thank the Public for the outpouring of assistance and items donated to fighting this fire. A special and huge thank you to the City of Guymon workers and departments for their assistance at multiple areas around town and at Guymon Station 1.
