CLAREMORE, Okla. — Fire departments across Rogers County said they are responding to a higher-than-usual amount of grass fires for this time of year.
Northwest Rogers County Fire Protection District said it received 11 calls on the evening of March 4. Fire Chief Mat Shockley, said they were all within a four mile area from Oolagah to Claremore.
The Chelsea Fire Department is also seeing an increase in fires. Its fire chief, Craig Sampson, said his crews fought ten fires in the last four days.
He said many of the calls were to pastures and between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m.
“We're not just talking small grass fires. We're talking some grass fires that are going a half a mile long. They're in wide open territory.”
He believes that arson is the cause.
"Bad times right now. It's just crazy, crazy times," said Chief Sampson. "It's like every night or every morning we're out on a suspicious fire."
Chief Sampson asked people to stay alert.
"We urge them to call 911, even if it ends up being nothing," said Chief Sampson. If they see something out of the ordinary or they see a vehicle that's driving slow and has stopped and now all of a sudden you see smoke, we definitely want to call 911."
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