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The Kitchen Table

Some photos from yesterday's wildfire in Mannford Oklahoma

11 years ago

Here are a few photos from yesterday's wildfire in the Mannford Oklahoma Area. There are two photos of fire in the middle of the town, it's unbelievable to think it burned to the middle of the town. They said that due to the BlackHawk helicopters the Post Office was saved and it is surrounded by concrete on 3 sides. The photo where you see the water towers is in town, also the one that shows stop lights hanging. Then there is a screen shot photo I captured that tells what one person is seeing in town. I got all these photos from Kotv Channel 6's facebook page. Our family farm is about 5 miles West of this town and all that is left standing there is the 112 year old barn, thieves burned the house down years ago. A cousin tried to go check to see if the barn is still standing but the highways were shut down. The highway Patrol told him that just a few farms over from ours over 150 head of cattle and horses perished in the fire. I imagine those are not the only ones, how horrible. All the small surrounding towns were evacuated. As of this morning people were allowed to return home. Only one highway is closed due to a live wire still laying across it. Last night Mannford lost electricity because the main feed line was burned. I don't know if that has been repaired or not. All of these little communities suffered greatly, a lot of these people had little to begin with, a lot of the rural houses were barely more then shacks.

Comments (14)

Adella Bedella
11 years ago
It is absolutely horrible. Some of those people lost eerything in the fire last year also.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
11 years ago
It just brings tears to my eyes. So much devastation and loss. I have been saying a lot of prayers for these poor people and animals!
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Thanks ya'll! All Ya'll! :) I really had fun designing the little veggie-herb garden (first photo), and it turned out pretty good. It leaches out fast down there. The entire area is underlain with layers of red iron rock - hard red sandstone. Even though the new leach lines were laid through there, the gray water is too far down to benefit the garden. Likely as not, the big trees are getting most of it, anyway. Anyhow, even though I amended that soil with bags and bags of compost and lots of oak leaves from the woods, it now looks exactly like it did before I amended last year. - red sandy soil with tiny, gravelly-like hard red rocks. Bummer! Where did all those little rocks come from? So, back to the old drawing board. Gotta go buy a half dozen bags of "Black Kow" composted manure at Lowe's (That's good stuff Maynard). About $5 a bag and it's a big bag. The DH "Darling Heathen" bought me a leaf-blower/vacuum/mulcher for Christmas this year. Just what I wanted...sorta. He bought me a bigger one than the one I wanted so it would be sturdier and last longer. He researched it for weeks to get the best buy, ya see. Works great! The end result is a lovely bag of finely shredded leaves and twigs. Its really nice stuff. The Heathen loves using it. :) (Now, if I could just lift it...) Nice to have awesome tools that I can't heft, start or carry around. He is big and strong with a big barrel chest and arms like Popeye, so hasn't a clue when he buys me things that are too much for me handle. My dear, darling, sweet boy... The Poor Man's Fertilizer On another note, we received over an inch of rain here on Iowa Hill this past week! Yes! Rain!!!! Rain and snow are The Poor Man's Fertilizer!!!! The kittens were traumatized by the entire event! They had never seen it rain before and the thunder and lightening, although sweet music to my ears, scared the peanuts out of them! Poor babies. They kept running out onto the porch and watching the rain come down and then dashing back inside. We are supposed to get more rain and thunderstorms in the two days and on into the following week. Rain in the forecast is such an event here in Oklahoma now that even the disc jocky on KOMA FM radio has been talking about it all morning today. It's not the end of the drought, by any means, but it will certainly give everything a booster shot and help green things up. What a blessing! Spring is arriving a good six weeks early again this year. We've had a very mild, but dry winter (again) and now above normal temperatures in January and February. My spring bulbs are up and the daylilies and irises are greening up and coming out of dormancy. The roses are beginning to form leaf buds and there are perennial seedlings everywhere. The fruit trees are forming flowering buds and some of the hardwoods are starting to make those little soft green leaf buds. Even the Eastern Bluebirds are back. They are mating and building their nests. It's crazy! Spring comes to central Oklahoma...in early February! Unreal!
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OklaMoni
11 years ago
I understand that is how it was in Luther too. I managed to get just inside town a bit yesterday, when I drove Haskell there to look at the trailer house.

living in town doesn't seem to be a guarantee to be safe from a fire. At least, not in these little towns.
marie_ndcal
11 years ago
It is sad and I still don't understand where all the help is and why it is not on national news. Our prayers and donations are on the way.
Marie
OklaMoni
11 years ago
Marie, there actually was help from all around, at the Luther fire. I believe, they had 5 different fire departments send trucks and crews.

It is just sooooo dry, and so hot, and the wind sure didn't help.

We are like a tinder box here in Oklahoma.

National news... well, I am not fond of abc, nbc and cbs... but locally all three covered the fires here.

National news don't seem to be broadcast for the average citizen.

When I am in Germany I hear US news, that I know, doesn't get reported in the US. I don't understand why we can't get informed.

Moni
tami_ohio
11 years ago
Keeping everyone in my prayers.
MiMi
Original Author
11 years ago
Marie.. There was and is help from hundreds of volunteer firefighters,from 40 different agencies, if that is what you mean. Yesterday evening the Nation Guard was called out. That cannot be done till the County Commissioners request it from the Govenor then she has to approve it. But she can declare the situtation a state of emergency then the Adjutant general gives the orders to call out the National Guard. This information is according to my husband, was the protocal when he was Hazmat Chief and the Black Hawks flew him over the areas on fire. They do have areas set up for donations of water, gatorade, snacks, food, clothing, household goods etc for anyone that needs it. This is just in Mannford that I am aware of but I would imagine there are more in other areas, like Moni took Haskell to. Yesterday earlier in the day they were begging people for Gatorade for the firefighters. Fortunately no deaths have been reported and one one firefighters was treated for heat exhaustion, that was the latest I heard anyway.
MiMi
Original Author
11 years ago
Moni is correct.. we are a dry tender box here in Oklahoma and yesterday the wind was blowing embers that were starting more fires. We are about 50 miles away from Mannford, in Owasso and we had huge ashes, the size of nickels falling, it looked like it was snowing and the sky was yellow and smoke was thick in the air. The smoke had the sun totally blocked out. I do not understand why we did not have better coverage from the local media. If it had been bad storms with possible tornado's the local broadcasting would of been taken over for hours and warning people in the path of the storms to be prepared to take cover. People that live in rural areas are somewhat used to grass fires and smelling smoke but I am sure some did not realize exactly how serious the situtation was yesterday and maybe with a little better media coverage could of been more prepared rather then being told when they had little time to gather things up or set animals free.
Adella Bedella
11 years ago
We just got a hold of our friend that lives near the Mannford area. She has been without phone and electricity. She said the fire was across the street from her house. She spent a scary night in her living room fully dressed wondering how she could evacuate all of her pets if needed. Thankfully, she didn't have to.

I don't think pople realize how quick you have to evacuate when you are told to leave. You basically need to be packed and ready to leave before the evacuation orders happen. You don't have time for anything else.
glenda_al
11 years ago
So sad and I heard on news that one was set intentionally! ;o(
nicole__
11 years ago
I'm so sorry for those that had to go through this. My heart goes out to them.

Here in Colorado, I watched as the Waldo Canyon fire burned around us. We had 65mph winds....as did this area.....there's no stopping a fire with winds like THAT.
coral_ok
11 years ago
We live in west Tulsa in the Berryhill area. Ashes from the Mannford fire were falling in our yard and all I could think about was the poor animals and people. These last two summers have been hellish.
taigen_gw
11 years ago
I can not even begin to imagine how devasting it must be for all these families and workers.
I have seen some stories on our Canadian news and will keep everyone in my thoughts and prayers.
linda_in_iowa
11 years ago
My heart goes out to all those affected by this fire.

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