Fast-Moving Fire Destroys Mayes County Homes

Fast-moving wildfires in Mayes County sent firefighters scrambling on Thursday to save homes and property near Highway 82 in Langley.

Neighbors said they saw the fire melt the siding right off their homes.

Firefighters believe the fire started off Highway 82, crept through a pasture, went through a neighborhood and singed some homes before it burned two to the ground.

"I really think, if it'd been five minutes later, that house would be gone,” said fire victim Kimberly Jepsen.

She watched her small neighborhood in Langley burn up Thursday from a grass fire. Now she’s assessing the damage to her pasture and fixing her fences.

She thought her dad Dale Churchill’s house at the top of the hill would be lost in the fast-moving fire.

"When the fence was on fire, the deck was on fire, and everything was collapsing on the house, I went in and got some things out, and as I came out I thought it was gone," Churchill said.

Right when the fire started to melt the siding of Churchill's home, he said firefighters got on it and put out the flames.

Two homes about a football field away from Churchill's didn't escape the fire. Neighbors believe no one was living in the homes.

Cabin Creek Fire Chief Jason Miller said conditions on Thursday forced firefighters to protect homes from the advancing fire line and stop them from spreading at the same time.

"Most people see a fire that creeps along as it burns; this fire is moving, probably around 5-10 miles-per-hour, so add that humidity levels and that wind, this fire was moving at a rate of 200-300 feet-per-minute," Miller said.

Churchill couldn't believe how fast the fire took off.

"The way that it moved was kind of scary now that I look back on it. You think that it would be a controlled burn, no, it was popping up all over the place," he said.

Chief Miller believes arcing power lines sparked the fire along the side of the Highway.

He said 11 departments in Mayes County responded to help contain the fire.