Rob: Talk about irony.
This past spring and summer, we saw a two-year drought end with heavy
rains that caused serious flooding.
Now precipitation this winter turned to ice in a series of storms that
downed power lines and literally, left millions in the dark.
2007 wound up being the wettest year on record in Oklahoma.
So as we begin 2008, what are we worried about?
Well, it's fire.
Here to tell us why and what we can do to prevent fire, here in our state,
is our state fire marshal, Robert Doke.
With all this rain, why are we talking about wildfire?
Robert Doke: If we look at 2006, one of the driest years in history, we
literally burned off an area, the size of Oklahoma County, of the state in
wild land fires.
2007, unbelievable amount of rainfall, this caused our vegetation to have an
abundant growth, very thick vegetation.
And now that the frost has come, it's in the fire season,
that vegetation is dead.
And it's some of the heaviest fire loads that we have ever seen.
Rob: So, we're getting the winds right now, this time of year.
So, we're at a prime point to burn, if it starts to really dry out?
Doke: If it starts drying out, which we predict it's going to be here in the
very near future, the winds are going to pull the moisture out of that
dead vegetation, and just the slightest spark will send off a wildfire that
will just be very hard to stop because of the dense fuel load.
Rob: What about the ice that we received in late 2007, I know, and you
know, it did tremendous damage across the state.
What is that going to mean across the state?
Doke: That is another issue that we're going to have to deal with out on
the fire scene.
The limbs and branches that fell down are now drying out with the winds
also, and they're on top of the vegetation.
If the vegetation starts, that's going to ignite those branches, the limbs,
and that's going to just double the fire load that we have now.
And with the moisture we've had, the ground is soft, our fire equipment
is heavy, we're liable to see fire equipment bog down in mud, while fire is
burning around it.
Rob: Now, you know, a lot of the cities are fortunate enough to have
the money, and have the resources, to be able to collect a lot of these
dead limbs, but when you get into more rural areas, it's not always that way.
Doke: That's very true, and it's going to be up to the property owner to how
they are going to dispose of the limbs and branches.
Rob: And I'm assuming a lot of the time, that's using what we call
prescribed fire, but it's using fire itself that can spread.
Doke: That's right, and in prescribed fire, those who do the permitting, a fire
department or emergency management, will look at the weather conditions in
the future, and on that permit, it will specifically say what type
of weather pattern will have to be present before
you can have a prescribed burn.
Rob: Now, there is some help out there for people wanting to learn more
about when would be a good time to burn.
Tell us about that.
Doke: It's the Oklahoma fire, it's a system set up with the Mesonet System
that is very beneficial to the fire service and the forestry personnel.
It predicts, and forecasts the weather into the future, up to 60 to 48 hours.
That way you can predict when the moisture is going to be perfect conditions
for burning, low winds and such.
Rob: And hopefully if people will follow these, it will take a lot of the
pressure off of some of these rural fire departments that were
stretched just as thin as could be in 2005 and in 2006.
Doke: That's very true, and by using prescribed burns, if the property
owner does so, that's very beneficial to our firefighters, not only
their equipment, but also to firefighter safety and the citizens and property
that surrounds that person.