CHELSEA, Okla. — A wildfire scorched about 300 acres in Chelsea. Most of the damage was contained to wooded and grassy areas, sparing homes and people's property.
Rogers County Emergency Management Director Scotty Stokes said the fire started from a controlled burn in Craig County days prior that continued to smolder. No homes were damaged, and no injuries were reported.
WATCH: 'Takes one little spark': 300 acres burn in Chelsea wildfire:
“People don’t understand that those embers, as you can see behind us, there’s smoldering wood and stuff," said Stokes. "In all these acres, they can’t get in there and put every bit of that out. So some of that will be smoldering for days, throwing off embers, and then when those high wind gusts come through and the wind change comes through, it blows those embers out and it just takes one little spark and it’s off to the races.”
About 20 homes were evacuated, in fear of a 'worst-case scenario.'
While flames moved in around them quickly, Bill Julian and his wife stayed in their home.
“What really freaked us out was how fast it blew through the pastures over there," said Julian. "It was like the fire was dancing.”
Julian moved to Oklahoma from Washington State in May of 2025.
He said the Chelsea Fire Department did a good job of updating neighbors about the fire conditions, so they had a few days to prepare if anything escalated.
“It went really fast," said Julian. "My wife and I walked down into the ravine yesterday morning and it was just kind of smoldering. We walked around quite a bit, and then the chief called and said the winds are changing, and it was just like that as soon as he called it.”
Chelsea and several other departments used Julian's fields to get close to the fires.
Close to 20 surrounding agencies brought in resources to help, including the National Guard, deploying a Black Hawk helicopter for water drops.
Stokes said the helicopter made all the difference, especially given the terrain in the fire area.
"It’s just really difficult to fight in these wooded areas that are down in ravines," said Stokes. "I mean, you are sending the firefighters down there on foot, with backpack blowers with literally rakes and shovels to try to get these fires stopped and basically build a small fire line to stop these fires. So it was very labor-intensive, but the Black Hawk helicopter from the National Guard really helped hit some of those areas that were difficult to reach.”
By 8 PM on March 22, the fire was 75% contained.
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