PAWNEE COUNTY, Okla. — Several fire chiefs have told 2 News March 2025 has seen the busiest week-long stretch in the history of Oklahoma firefighting.
While the number of newly homeless Green Country continues to grow, the men and women defending life and property from the recent wildfires also need help.
"What other words can describe it? Heartbreaking, defeating, devastating for some," Terlton Community Volunteer Fire Department captain Jackey Davis said March 19. "It's hard to put into words."
- Previous coverage >>> LIVE BLOG: Evacuations in Pawnee County, more fires spark in Green Country
There's simply no such thing as a day off when your neighbors -- and for some, the entire town could be on the line.
For Capt. Davis, his family's own house was one of the first to go up in flames.
"That's all stuff," Capt. Davis said, dismissing any toll firefighting has taken, given that his family's house is gone. "Life is much more important. This brings joy, to keep doing this as much as possible."
As of March 19, 105 homes in Pawnee County have been destroyed by the wildfires, according to the county's EMA director.
It's also an exhausting sacrifice known all too well throughout the county, like at Peninsula Fire Department.
"One or two hours sleep and then we're up all day after being up the previous day," Assistant Chief Mark Randell said. "And just nonstop running from fire to fire."
Terlton's donation tables are open to anyone who needs the basics, but that also applies to those like Capt. Davis.
Fire departments welcome gifts of hydration as well.
"The community has been really great," Randell said. "We've been getting donations from everybody. (Today) we got Gatorade just brought to us."
"Visine, chapstick, things that I never normally use (are needed for firefighters," Davis added. "That's what we were carrying and we were using on each other."
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