OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Kevin Stitt spoke to the media for the second time since firing state forester Mark Goeller.
During a previous briefing, 2 News Anchor Erin Christy asked Gov. Stitt to confirm the firing, which he did. Saying only Goeller did a poor job handling the March 14 wildfires. He never addressed what, specifically, made him form that opinion.
Local News
Gov. Stitt elaborates on ouster as fire crew, community outrage grows
Goeller later posted about the firing on his Facebook page, in a post shared over 400 times by supporters.
I have been falsely accused of not performing the duties necessary to protect life and property in a timely manner.
At Gov. Stitt's weekly briefing on April 2nd, an Oklahoma City journalist continued asking questions about his decision to fire Goeller.
Stitt's answer brought more questions.
“I’m not blaming anybody for those fires,” Stitt said, “What I’m questioning – and what I’m frustrated with – like most Oklahomans, is this was a time to save property and save lives, and if we didn’t have all of our resoucres there on those fires, that’s frustrating.”
WATCH: Stitt doubles down on Goeller firing:
In the wake of Goeller's firing, 2 News listened to several fire chiefs, disappointed in the Governor’s decision. Olive Fire Chief Jason Dobson felt personally offended, saying Goeller led the brave men and women on the front lines.
“If we did something wrong, we need to know about it, and he’s not provided that information,” Goeller said during a March 28 interview.
2 News tried to ask Stitt for a response to those comments. The aide in charge of passing the microphone between reporters shook his head as if to say ‘no’ when Brodie Myers asked for the microphone.
Stitt did say this when the issue came up, “If there were assets that were not deployed during that event, myself as governor, I’ve gotta hold people accountable. We’re digging into that. We’ll get you that information as soon as we find it.”
The governor further raised issues by pondering the idea of abolishing the forestry department.
Why do I even have a department of forestry? Let’s just get rid of the whole thing. That would save $75 million for the taxpayers, or, let’s take $50 million of that, let’s give it to our volunteer fire departments. The folks throughout the state that are already actually there doing this, because the bureaucracy in Oklahoma City let our local folks down.
2 News Oklahoma is going to keep digging into this story, if you have any information to share please reach out via email at news@kjrh.com.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
