Firefighting Challenges In California And Oklahoma's Winter Weather Response

Oklahoma Fire Preparedness

Tulsa Fire Department's Andy Little discussed the impact of fires in California, highlighting the differences between wildfires and urban fires. He stressed the importance of preparedness, both for residents and firefighters.

“Even in Oklahoma, we can encourage our residents to keep dry vegetation away from their home, any low-hanging branches, anything that's flammable, away from their home," Little said. "Avoid those campfires when there's fire danger, follow our ordinances, and of course, keep your guard maintained.”

He emphasized that wildfires come with additional challenges. The vastness of the fires, dry vegetation, and conditions such as the Santa Ana winds make them harder to combat than typical urban fires.

“In Tulsa and urban areas, the plan is to make a quick entry into the home when there's a fire, to put the fire out, search the structure, and do our best to protect lives and property in a relatively small area," Little explained. "With these wildfires, it's a very vast area, and you have things like the Santa Ana winds, dry vegetation, low relative humidity, things that make these fire dangers much greater.”

California's lack of rain for nearly a year has worsened the fire conditions.

“I've heard it referred to as a perfect storm,” he said. “These firefighters are doing their best to fight these, but the truth of the matter is, when they're out there, the fire can quickly jump further past where their fire lines are. It can change direction very quickly, very unpredictably. It causes a very difficult firefighting scenario for those firefighters.”

Morale and Support for Firefighters

Morale for firefighters battling these conditions is crucial, Little pointed out. Firefighters often work 12-hour shifts, with some taking even longer shifts.

“It does take a serious toll on these firefighters. I know they've brought in, like support dogs and stuff, to just try to interact with those firefighters and raise their levels of morale after those shifts," Little said. “When you think about the terrain, the heat, the difficulty, and just that mental stress of seeing all this devastation, it's very difficult.”

Support from the community helps, as does the assistance from organizations aimed at providing aid to the firefighters.

Tulsa's Winter Weather Response

Little reported that the city did well in managing the first big winter weather event of the season. Street crews used new equipment to keep roads passable, and the fire department responded to several incidents.

“In that 24-hour period when the snow started coming down, until about five the next day, we responded to almost 50 motor vehicle accidents. In similar situations, we've responded to 300,” Little noted. “We responded to reports of about 50 fires, but had about six working structure fires. So I think people were paying attention and staying home and being alert, and we're very thankful for that.”

Winter and Summer Training for Firefighters

Fighting fires in both extreme cold and heat requires extensive training. Little mentioned that the fire department has been preparing firefighters for extreme weather conditions, including how to handle freezing fire pumps.

“Our training division is always working to make sure firefighters know how to handle these different situations and temperatures,” Little said. “In fact, they released some information, a reminder of sorts, to firefighters on how to maintain those fire pumps on their trucks with such extreme weather, because those can freeze."