Fireworks spark grass fires

July 6, 2012

A young child holds a sparkler during the 4th of July celebration in Gruver, Texas on Wednesday. Guymon firefighters responded to four reported fires on the 4th of July. Staff photo/Trudy Hart

After last Monday’s meeting of the County Commissioners where a burn ban was not able to be voted into action, fire fighters and safety officials were well prepared for the possibility of high call volumes during the 4th of July. Luckily, citizens were very responsible, and very few calls actually took place.
Assistant Fire Chief Grant Wadley said that firefighters responded to four fire calls in the 24 hour time period of the 4th of July.
The first report was at 6:56 p.m. in the 700 block of South East Street with a vehicle fire. According to firefighters, fireworks discarded in the back of a pickup started other debris in the pickup, causing the fire. Firefighters reported the fire out on their arrival.
The next fire reported took place at 9:24 p.m. in the 400 block of South Sunset. People driving by a garage saw what they thought was smoke coming from the doorway. Upon the firefighters’ arrival, they found the owner in the garage stating there had been no fire and it was smoke from a project he was working on which was non-firework related.
At 9:50 p.m., firefighters on standby at the public display extinguished a small grass fire on the northwest side of Hitch Arena. This fire was extinguished almost immediately once found by firefighters.
The last fire occurred on the lower portion at Sunset Park on the east side at 10:11 p.m. Police and fire officials patrolling the park located the grass fire that was moving upwards to the roadway just behind the Texas County fair grounds. The fire was extinguished quickly with three fire units that responded. Fireworks were found to be the cause of this fire.
In other parts of Texas County, three departments had no activity reported.
Texhoma, Optima, and Hardesty had no responses on July 4 and Goodwell, Hooker, and Yarbrough all responded to one fire call in their areas during the 24 hour period.
Tyrone responded twice to fires, once inside Tyrone city limits, then the next they responded to assist Beaver County and Seward County fire units on a fire south of Turpin. The Baker and Adams Fire Departments also responded to the fire south of Turpin, which was their only reported response.
Wadley said that the 4th of July is typically one of the busiest and dangerous days of the year for firefighters across the country, but luckily, the Panhandle did not have an abundance of fire calls.
“As hot and dry as the area has been, these very low-key fire calls were a fortunate way to end the fourth,” Wadley said in a release.
Even though the 4th of July is over, high fire danger still exists and everyone has the responsibility to be on high alert to their surroundings. The County Commissioners of Texas County will still be discussing the possibility of placing a burn ban during future meetings.