Fighting Oklahoma Wildfires With An Eye In The Sky

Windy, dry conditions late in the week kept area fire departments on their toes. 

One asset Oklahoma's Forestry Department uses to keep tabs on fires is a handful of planes. But those planes are used mostly in Oklahoma's six million acre "timber belt" on the east side of the state. 

However Andy James with the Forestry Department says an OHP fixed wing plane is also used here in the middle part of the state.

"It provides eyes in the skies for ground resources," he said.

James says a plane allows his crews on the ground to know what is ahead and all around a grass fire or wildfire.