A large grass fire consumed 100 to 150 acres in the area of Walker Road and SH 9 Tuesday, with as many as 40 firefighters fighting flames in wooded areas. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported.
Kathy Winkelman, who lives on Walker Road, was home listening to Christmas music and putting up holiday decorations when she heard a honk from the driveway.
A car occupied by several ladies stopped and said a field on her 80-acre property was on fire. With her husband, Kevin, at work, she called the fire department, and though Winkelman said she was crying and upset, she tried to find hoses to fight the blaze as it got closer to her home.
But while awaiting the fire department, neighbors and even some passersby she didn’t know stopped to help her, grabbing rakes and hoses to fight the fire, as well as gathering up her goats and horses, which were trapped by the flames, she said.
“Neighbors and the fire department is what saved my house,” she said, adding it was the kindness of Oklahomans who “came to her rescue.”
Houses within a half mile area also were threatened, she said, as flames moved back to the east and into a deep forest area.
“It was a close call all around me,” she said.
As the fire raced, Winkelman said she began frantically grabbing pictures and putting them into her car, worried the fire was going to consume her and her husband’s home.
That’s when Mike Potter, Tecumseh’s assistant emergency manager, stopped to tell her fire crews had a truck full of 6,000 gallons of water ready and they weren’t going to let the fire take her home.
“I got weak in the knees and almost fainted,” she said. “That meant the world to hear him say that.”
Potter said firefighters from Pink, Tecumseh, Norman, Little Axe, Macomb, Shawnee, Bethel Acres, as well as crews from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, battled the blaze. Tecumseh emergency management coordinated assistance efforts at scene as Pottawatomie County sheriff’s deputies responded for traffic control. Forestry officials responded and the American Red Cross provided food and drinks to firefighters at the scene.
Potter, who said firefighters responded about 11 a.m., said the fire was under control by late afternoon, but fire crews were expected to be on the scene most of the night to douse hot spots.
As the fire roared, it consumed wooded areas and threatened homes, but firefighters were able to keep it from devouring any homes or structures, although it was “real close” to several that the flames “burned around.”
Crews went door to door to make residents aware, but there were no evacuations, he said. Because of the wooded areas, fire trucks couldn’t access some areas, so firefighters had to battled the blaze on foot and by hand, using rakes and packs of water.
At one point, Potter said as many as 35 to 40 firefighters were working to contain the blaze. Potter said cause of the fire is unknown, but officials believe it could have been a set fire.
For Winkelman, who began the day listening to Christmas music and putting up decorations, everything changed in a “split second.” But thanks to others, and the work of firefighters, the day ended without her family losing their home.
“You never know how lucky and grateful you are for your neighbors until something like this happens,” she said. “Thank you just doesn’t say enough.”
And despite all of the work firefighters endured, they may have influenced her son’s future career. Kolby, 10, was impressed with the firefighters and went around shaking their hands, thanking them for saving his home, she said. In return, fire crews allowed him to watch as they doused a few final hot spots.
“After all their hard work, they took time out to be a mentor to him, just for a moment,” Winkelman said, thankful for the fire crews and Tuesday’s “miracle.”
And while daughter, Kaylee, 8, was at school during the ordeal, Winkelman said Kaylee was upset that the fire may have been intentionally set.
Anyone with information about the blaze is asked to call the sheriff’s office, 405-273-1727.
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Did you know?
As favorable conditions remain for grass fires, extreme caution is urged.
Residents are reminded to keep debris and firewood away from homes and structures, and to keep grass cut short around their homes.
