TERLTON, Okla. — One year ago on the weekend of March 14, 2025, wildfires left a devastating path in Mannford and surrounding communities.
"There was a knock on the door, and it was the sheriff," Robert Lake remembers. "He says there's a 50-foot wall of flames that'll hit your house in about 10 minutes. Grab your pets and get out. And so that's what we did."
WATCH: One year later: Families reflect on deadly Mannford wildfires
Lake lost his Terlton home in those fires, one of the over 400 destroyed.
"It's just been a constant," Lake said. "I've been working out here every day trying to rebuild."
Down the road in Mannford, it's a similar story for Emma Plute's family.
"My stepdad called. He called my mom because he didn't want to tell me, but I answered the phone," Plute remembers. "She had walked away from her phone, and I knew that they were trying to get out here, and so I answered the phone, and he was just like, everything's gone."
The Plute's lost their house and nearly 20 animals.
TJ Eckert: "What has this last year been like for you guys, for your family?"
Emma Plute: "An adventure. We spent a lot of time at my mom's house, and we also had a camper that we kind of went back and forth."
The fires caused irreparable damage for some.
"This was just devastating out here when it hit," Lake said. "In fact, most of our neighbors have not been able to rebuild."
In those desperate days, weeks, and months after, those affected leaned on the community.
"We never had to worry about food, we never had to worry about where we were going to sleep, where my kid was going to sleep," Plute said. "Everyone just immediately jumped in."
Now, a year later, both the Plute's and Lake's have been rebuilt on the land that fire tried to take away.
"We're just back to normal. Expanding the farm, expanding the homestead, and raising these kids the best we can," Plute said.
"We've just been trying to use this as an opportunity to build back the house the way we want it," Lake added.
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