Bartlesville firefighters joined several agencies across the state to help battle fires out of control on Circle Mountain and Gap Road on Friday.
High winds were to blame for the fires, both in causing them and making them difficult to control. In all, eight homes — seven on Gap Road and one on Circle Mountain — and several other structures in the area were destroyed.
“The fires started on Gap Road when the wind snapped an electrical pole at about six feet from the ground,” said Bartlesville Fire Chief David Topping. “That caused the wires to sag down and slap together, which resulted in the fire.”
He said several other fires started on oil leases in much the same way, with winds causing the lines to slap together and cause fires.
“We had four major fires going at one time, and Dewey had one north of Oak Park,” he said. “It was an all-hands-on-deck situation.”
Topping said all available firefighters, including several called in from off-duty, were on fire scenes until things were under control.
“We had all of our guys that could be out on Friday, including a team in town that ran from house to house putting out small fires caused by the high winds,” he said.
He said multiple agencies joined the fight.
“They came from all over the state,” he said. “Oklahoma Forestry had three teams in, three teams out from Friday through the entire weekend. It was a tough situation, but I’m proud of our guys and everyone else who stepped up to help.”
He said work done by Oklahoma Forestry last year to thin Bartlesville’s most wooded areas, including Circle Mountain, almost certainly kept the fires from being worse.
“It’s hard to imagine it could be worse, but without the fire mitigation efforts they underwent in this area last year, it almost certainly would have been,” he said.
Washington County has issued a burn ban for the next 14 days due to extremely dry conditions.