Firefighters worry as drought worsens

TULSA COUNTY - The fire south of Bixby is now under control -- but it left behind about 600 acres of charred land.

Firefighters say no homes were lost and no one was hurt. The fire broke out on Thursday south of Bixby near Leonard. Firefighters say it stretched more than a mile wide.

The worst may be over for now, but the severe drought has firefighters concerned.

"Well, it was pretty nasty for awhile. A lot of concern for neighbors, and myself included," said homeowner Randy Brown.
 
Brown could see the smoke from his house. So he got out a hose to do what he could.

"Of course we watched it, and we did a few things like water around and so on and so on, in case embers happened to come this way. But other than that, they did an excellent job I think, overall," Brown said.

Thanks to the work of more than 70 firefighters, many of them volunteers, the fire is under control.

But firefighters still worry about extremely dry conditions. Much of Oklahoma has been in a drought since the spring.

The Tulsa area is 9 1/2 inches below normal when it comes to rainfall.

"The underbrush, it may not be quite as thick because we didn't have any growth, we normally have in an annual event, but what is there is extremely dry, it doesn't take just a spark to set something off. And it burns very quick," said Bixby Fire Chief Steve Abel.

Abel expects to see more wildfires than usual in the coming months if we don't get a lot of rain soon.

"Moisture is critical, there's no doubt about that. We deal with the grassfire situation all the way through winter, through the spring again," Abel said.  

Residents here consider themselves lucky.

"It was tenuous for awhile, but other than that, they did a real good job I think," Brown said.