Fort Sill and area fire departments contained a fire Sept. 9 that burned across the post’s West Range. Routine training started the fire in an impact area, which with the help of Oklahoma wind grew legs toward

Containing the fire
Fort Sill firefighters perform a back-burn Sept. 9 at Lake Elmer Thomas Recreation Area (LETRA) in order to stop a a range fire from spreading toward property nearby. Campers and others who were at LETRA were evacuated in an abundance of caution. (Photo Credit: Marie Pihulic) VIEW ORIGINAL

more fuel.

“Due to the proximity of the head fires coming out of the West Range, they were headed straight towards [Lake Elmer Thomas Recreation Area],” said Jeremy Thomas, Fort Sill assistant fire chief.

Emergency services evacuated the recreation area due to the smoke. Simultaneously, they communicated with fire departments in the surrounding area to notify them of the situation and ask for aid.

“It was a true collaborative effort. Our Fort Sill Fire Department in coordination with support from Comanche County and many others were able to contain the fire that burned over 1,000 acres on our training area,” said Col. Rhett Taylor, Fort Sill Garrison commander.

In total, Comanche County Emergency Management and fire departments from Comanche Nation, Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Medicine Park and Porter Hill assisted in the effort.

Lt. Col. Michael King, DES director and Provost Marshal, said there are many steps taken to ensure fires from the range areas do not get out of control. One of those preventive measures include firebreaks on post that they maintain year-round.

“We’re doing what we do. We’re maximizing every effort to minimize damage,” said King. “We really appreciate support from our partners to contain the fire.”

King added that yesterday’s strategy involved back-burn operations at Lake Elmer Thomas Recreation Area (LETRA) in order to cause the fire to self-extinguish. Firefighters also had several brush trucks and a tanker there they quickly used to put out those flames.

Fort Sill Fire and Emergency Services constantly works to reduce the threat of wildfires. The team has already implemented one prescribed burn to remove hazardous fuel on post and will continue to perform more in the coming months.