State Agencies Waiting To Assess Damage From 'Historic' Wildfires

While crews battle the wildfires out west, state agencies are planning for what comes next.

Fire management crews at Forestry Services have called in extra help.

“Our response capabilities have been stretched to the limits. We're bringing in resources from out of state,” Mark Goeller, fire management chief for Oklahoma Forestry Services said.

From extra crews, to aircraft to equipment, resources have been flown into Oklahoma from all over the country.

“We are doing both defensive and offensive tactics no matter what the weather conditions are,” Goeller said.

The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management is doing the same.

“Think of this place as a coordination location for the delivery of resources that are needed out at the different fires,” Deputy Director of Oklahoma Emergency Management, Michelann Ooten said.

Most other state agencies are deployed by Emergency Management, which keeps an eye on the hot spots to figure out who goes where.

Emergency managers will leave their Oklahoma City offices when the fires end, to figure out if federal aid is a possibility.

“We will look at getting teams out there to go to the different damage locations and do those full assessments,” Ooten said.

That assessment can’t be done until there’s a break in the flames, something Forestry Services says people shouldn’t be too optimistic about yet.

“They think the fire situation has improved or it's not that much of a threat anymore, but that couldn't be further from the truth, because we have numerous spots out there that still have a lot of heat,” Goeller said.

Victims of the wildfire with damage to their homes can fill out a survey on the emergency management website.

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