Firefighters battled numerous wildfires in Oklahoma on Thursday. Large blazes near Nuyaka and Cleveland forced residents from their homes.
Satellite image of smoke from wildfires in Oklahoma at 5:07 p.m. CST February 18, 2016.The red dots represent heat from wildfires in Oklahoma detected by a satellite at 2:27 p.m. CST, February 18, 2016.
Image above: Pickett Volunteer Fire Department’s HEMTT fire truck. KXII photo.
KXII has a story about a wildfire in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma where the Pickett Volunteer Fire Department used their huge 2,500-gallon wildland fire truck to help extinguish a fire near Ada (map). The vehicle is based on the military’s Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), an eight-wheel drive beast manufactured by Oshkosh Truck Corporation. Many variations of the HEMTT were made and are still being used by military organizations around the world to carry cargo, Patriot Missiles, rockets, and portable bridges. There are also several varieties of fire trucks based on the HEMTT that hold from 1,000 to 2,500 gallons.
Wikipedia had this information about one of the firefighting versions:
The M1142 is a Tactical Fire Fighting Truck (TFFT) capable of extinguishing aircraft, petroleum, brush, and structural fires at isolated military installations. The TFFT is based on a HEMTT M977A2 chassis with the heavier duty M1120 LHS HEMTT variant rear suspension. The TFFT contract was awarded to Pierce Manufacturing with Oshkosh Corporation as a subcontractor to Pierce.
Pickett Volunteer Fire Department’s HEMTT fire truck. KXII photo.
KXII wrote:
It cost the town only $30,000 through a government program that gives counties retired military equipment.
A vehicle like that would normally cost tax payers about $500,000.
Let us know in a comment if you know of other fire departments using a version of the HEMTT as a fire truck.
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(UPDATE February 14, 2016)
One of our readers told us about a Maine Forest Service fire station in Greenville that has at least one HEMTT.
From Maine Firehouse Photos.From Google Maps Street View.
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(UPDATE February 16, 2016)
Pat sent us these photos of HEMTTs that are in Idaho.
Idaho Department of Lands HEMTT fire truck.Bonneville County Fire District’s HEMTT fire truck.
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings for areas in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and California.
In the California counties of Ventura and Los Angeles 20 to 35 mph northeast winds with gusts of 40 to 50 are in the forecast until 6 p.m. tonight. The Texas and Oklahoma areas under Red Flag Warnings from noon until 6 p.m. CST tonight will experience relative humidities in the teens with wind gusts out of the north to northwest at around 30. Firefighters in south-central Kansas should expect 20 to 30 mph northwest winds gusting to 45 mph along with a minimum humidity of 30 percent from noon until 7 p.m. CST tonight.
The map was current as of 8:45 a.m. MDT on Monday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts and maps. For the most current data visit this NWS site.
On the above photo the red squares indicate heat from a wildfire detected by a satellite at 1:39 p.m. CST, January 30, 2016. At that time the fire was two to three miles south of Eula, Texas.
Strong winds and low relative humidities have promoted the growth of several large wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma. One of the blazes causing evacuations, the High Line Fire, is about 12 miles southeast of Abiline, Texas, north of highway 36 and two to three miles south of Eula.
The National Weather Service announced at about 6 p.m. on Saturday that an evacuation has been requested for the Eula area.
Several structures have already caught fire. Residents are urged to evacuate to the north toward Interstate 20. Evacuation shelters have also been set up at the Eula High School, and the First Baptist Church in Clyde. The Red Cross will be on scene at these locations after 6 p.m.
A spokesperson from the Callahan County Sheriff’s Office said the suspected cause is a power line.
A fire 20 to 25 miles south of Oklahoma City, southwest of Norman between Blanchard and Goldsby is also causing problems. It put up a large amount of smoke that was detected on weather radar, which is represented by the color blue on the map below.
Von Castor, a storm tracker for KOTV in Tulsa, was out tracking wildfires and reporting on the wind that was gusting to 50 mph when he saw a herd of cattle about to be overrun by an approaching grass fire in a pasture. With some difficulty, he managed to open a gate which provided an escape route for the cattle. Not being the brightest animals on the planet, it took them a while to figure it out, but the cows finally, three minutes into the video, ran through the gate as the fire closed in on them.
