MCALESTER, Okla — The City of McAlester was awarded a $5.8 million grant through the "Community Wildfire Defense Grant program" in May 2024.
The money will be distributed over a five-year span.
It's aimed at clearing dead vegetation to prevent the spread of grassfires in the area by creating 100-foot fire breaks.
Lucky Huff is the director of utilities for the City of McAlester.
“We are a very heavily forested area of Oklahoma, and we're kind of the gateway to the mountainous region of Oklahoma," he said. “None of this is going to be on private property. All of this runs on either city-owned property or our easements that that have been granted to us because of our water treatment lines or our sewer lines and things like that in town.”
Along with creating firebreaks, Huff said the grant helps address the need for critical infrastructure, such as fire hydrants and water lines, which are essential in the event of a fire.
“Now they have ease of access to come in, do the repairs, save people time and money," he said. “The way the system is we have everything in here that is notated. Meters, meter cans, water lines, sewer lines, manholes. This is our entire GIS system.”
Huff said that, even though the grant lasts only five years, it will have a longer-lasting impact.
“We'll have a three-man crew that will be taking care of this from then on out," he said. "They'll be ensuring that once the heavy brush and everything is out of the way, they will be able to maintain it.”
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