Firefighter Hit By Vehicle While Fighting Nowata County Fire

The northern portions of Oklahoma saw several fires break out Thursday.

Washington County fire crews battled a large fire in the Wann area. And in Nowata County, fires broke out along Highways 169 and 60.

One firefighter is recovering after troopers say a man hit him while driving through the smoke.

It was a scary situation in Nowata on Highway 60 between Nowata and Vinita when the firefighter, working the scene with the Centralia Fire Department, was trying to pull some hose and was struck by a driver going through the fire scene.

The firefighter was airlifted to an area hospital in Tulsa with a broken leg.

The good news is the fire is contained; and Shawn Christian, the chief of the Centralia Fire Department, said the firefighter is expected to be OK.

“It's very dangerous. Don't go into the smoke if you can't see clearly. You don't know who's there and what they're doing. We're having a hard enough time keeping ourselves safe and keeping the trucks out of the way and to look for you that's too much," he said.

Fire officials have not released the firefighter's name.