Fire Causes Havoc in Guymon
Monday April 4th, Guymon, Okla. – What seemed to be a peaceful Sunday afternoon turned into chaos when fire swept through the southwest side of Guymon.
The exact cause of the fires have not yet been released, the Guymon Fire Department is reportedly still investigating. Smoke billowed throughout Guymon, causing residents from Prairie Southwest Village, The Elk's Edition and north Sunset to evacuate their homes while firefighters fought against multiple fires and 60 mph winds. Many homes were threatened. Officials went door to door to evacuate residents. Hwy. 54 was closed for several hours, many experienced power outages, phone lines were down and gas meters melted due to extreme heat. Congested traffic was also an issue for officials, many came to simply look at the blaze, causing traffic control problems for firefighters and police.
"We began at about 3:30 p.m. and still had trucks out at 2:30 a.m.," said Guymon Fire Chief Clark Purdy. "We have trucks out this morning so you could say they worked on the fire all night. We will find out more this morning. The only occupied structure that burned down that we are aware of was the Kippenberger residence. There was damage to numerous homes in the Elk's Edition, as far as out-buildings, fences, siding melting and I saw that first hand but no homes were lost in the Elk's Edition.
"There were some buildings and RV's lost out at the Southwind RV Park, but again, we will know more later," said Purdy.
Several eye injuries were reported and one Tyrone firefighter did go to the emergency room to be treated and was later released.
"The blowing sand, smoke and dust made it very hard for firefighters to see," concluded Purdy.
Several fire trucks are reportedly down, Guymon is without a brush truck but will be borrowing the one from Hooker.
"At about 5:30 p.m., we activated the Emergency Operating Center at the Police Department where we began coordinated efforts to deal with and mitigate the fire," said Guymon Chief of Police Eddie Adamson. "We established an emergency evacuation center at the Methodist Church. Went door to door to the areas in need of evacuation and contacted all news media. Gas meters at the back of the Elk's Edition got so hot that the gaskets were melting, causing gas to be released into the air. Power-line poles fell, causing electrical problems. It got so hot that PTCI had some underground cable melt. About 1500 customers were without power. We did a mass call in to the City employees to help in various locations. Highway 54 was closed until about midnight. Some railroad ties lit on fire so we had to contact the railroad company and did detour a few trains. The spectators were causing problems and were endangering the situation. We sat up a rehab center at the Police Department for firefighters to make sure they got water, some food and check their welfare. It was kind of a 'Perfect Storm' situation, whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. But with coordinated efforts, there were no reported injuries."
The American Red Cross rushed to the aid of those evacuated from the massive blaze. A shelter was opened at the Victory Memorial United Methodist Church.
"We had tons of volunteers," said American Red Cross Service Center Manager Theresa Boyd. "We had three families all together but no one spent the entire night. Me, and one other volunteer stayed all night, we had to keep the shelter open due to many losing their power."
Boyd reported Scottie's donated hamburgers. Walmart donated water, Gatorade, cookies, chips, fruit and crackers. Some personal donations were made, such as pizza and soup.
"We have met the criteria for Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG), now we must do the assessments for it," said Texas County Emergency Management Director Harold Tyson. "I never thought we would qualify for FMAG, to meet the criteria 100 homes have to be evacuated."
Many assisted with the blaze: Guymon Fire Department, Guymon EMS, many farmers, Goodwell Fire Department, Goodwell EMS, Spearman, Gruver, Hooker, Hardesty, Griggs, Keyes, Gruver EMS, Perkins Petroleum, Adams and Texhoma.
Assessments of the damages will be conducted today and more information will be released as it becomes available.
The exact cause of the fires have not yet been released, the Guymon Fire Department is reportedly still investigating. Smoke billowed throughout Guymon, causing residents from Prairie Southwest Village, The Elk's Edition and north Sunset to evacuate their homes while firefighters fought against multiple fires and 60 mph winds. Many homes were threatened. Officials went door to door to evacuate residents. Hwy. 54 was closed for several hours, many experienced power outages, phone lines were down and gas meters melted due to extreme heat. Congested traffic was also an issue for officials, many came to simply look at the blaze, causing traffic control problems for firefighters and police.
"We began at about 3:30 p.m. and still had trucks out at 2:30 a.m.," said Guymon Fire Chief Clark Purdy. "We have trucks out this morning so you could say they worked on the fire all night. We will find out more this morning. The only occupied structure that burned down that we are aware of was the Kippenberger residence. There was damage to numerous homes in the Elk's Edition, as far as out-buildings, fences, siding melting and I saw that first hand but no homes were lost in the Elk's Edition.
"There were some buildings and RV's lost out at the Southwind RV Park, but again, we will know more later," said Purdy.
Several eye injuries were reported and one Tyrone firefighter did go to the emergency room to be treated and was later released.
"The blowing sand, smoke and dust made it very hard for firefighters to see," concluded Purdy.
Several fire trucks are reportedly down, Guymon is without a brush truck but will be borrowing the one from Hooker.
"At about 5:30 p.m., we activated the Emergency Operating Center at the Police Department where we began coordinated efforts to deal with and mitigate the fire," said Guymon Chief of Police Eddie Adamson. "We established an emergency evacuation center at the Methodist Church. Went door to door to the areas in need of evacuation and contacted all news media. Gas meters at the back of the Elk's Edition got so hot that the gaskets were melting, causing gas to be released into the air. Power-line poles fell, causing electrical problems. It got so hot that PTCI had some underground cable melt. About 1500 customers were without power. We did a mass call in to the City employees to help in various locations. Highway 54 was closed until about midnight. Some railroad ties lit on fire so we had to contact the railroad company and did detour a few trains. The spectators were causing problems and were endangering the situation. We sat up a rehab center at the Police Department for firefighters to make sure they got water, some food and check their welfare. It was kind of a 'Perfect Storm' situation, whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. But with coordinated efforts, there were no reported injuries."
The American Red Cross rushed to the aid of those evacuated from the massive blaze. A shelter was opened at the Victory Memorial United Methodist Church.
"We had tons of volunteers," said American Red Cross Service Center Manager Theresa Boyd. "We had three families all together but no one spent the entire night. Me, and one other volunteer stayed all night, we had to keep the shelter open due to many losing their power."
Boyd reported Scottie's donated hamburgers. Walmart donated water, Gatorade, cookies, chips, fruit and crackers. Some personal donations were made, such as pizza and soup.
"We have met the criteria for Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG), now we must do the assessments for it," said Texas County Emergency Management Director Harold Tyson. "I never thought we would qualify for FMAG, to meet the criteria 100 homes have to be evacuated."
Many assisted with the blaze: Guymon Fire Department, Guymon EMS, many farmers, Goodwell Fire Department, Goodwell EMS, Spearman, Gruver, Hooker, Hardesty, Griggs, Keyes, Gruver EMS, Perkins Petroleum, Adams and Texhoma.
Assessments of the damages will be conducted today and more information will be released as it becomes available.
