Thursday, April 9th, started out like any other day, but it was unusually hot, windy and dry. By late morning, fires had broken out in rural areas in the eastern part of Midwest City. The fires were only a few miles northeast of Tinker AFB, which is the nation’s largest Air Force Base. High winds spread the fire quickly, and soon things were beyond control. The fire became a major multijurisdictional emergency, quickly involving some 30 fire departments from across central Oklahoma, as well as 14 local, county and state law enforcement agencies. By mid afternoon, an all-hands page went out to all deputies in the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office. Soon, dozens of reserve deputies joined fellow members of OCSO as they evacuated neighborhoods, blocked intersections and controlled traffic, and patrolled for looters in empty neighborhoods. Throughout the emergency, OCSO continued to also provide full service to the rest of the county.
Fires would continue to flare up over the next two days with a major breakout spotted by Reserve Deputy Greg Crump Saturday afternoon. Police presence, made largely possible with the manpower surge provided by OCSO’s Reserve Division, would continue to provide fire surveillance over more than 100 square miles (and including four municipal jurisdictions). The last active responses occurred at 2300 Saturday evening, when lightning ignited fires in the eastern-most part of the county. Within minutes, patrolling Reserve Division cruisers had closed intersections, securing the fire for responding firefighters. Patrols would continue through Sunday evening, when arriving rains extinguished the last of the smoldering brush and woods.
Throughout the four-day long event, Reserve Deputies worked in close coordination with Choctaw PD, Nicoma Park PD, Midwest City PD, Oklahoma City PD, Oklahoma HP and with units from many other agencies that also assisted. Throughout these field operations, OCSO Patrol supervisors delivered food and bottled water directly to cruisers so deputies could stay at assigned stations, or continue patrolling.
During evacuations on Thursday, the fire storm created its own winds, which were extremely powerful near the fire front. At times, cruisers were in near-zero visibility while driving through the thick smoke, with flames clearly visible on both sides of the road. Fire teams moved in multi-vehicle convoys, complemented later on by convoys of oil field water tankers, each moving 6-8,000 gallon loads to working FD pumper equipment deployed on the fire line.
OCSO deployed its mobile command post to the southwest end of the fire. Reserve Deputies helped there with dispatch. Earlier, Reserve Division Office personnel, including Division Commander Captain Paul Snyder, helped the dispatch center handle the surge in agency and multijurisdictional communications traffic.
In what would be declared a federal disaster area, the surge became a 24/7 response, with Reserves rotating through 8 and 12 hours shifts. The rapid response saw Reserve cruisers on location quickly. This was possible because the Reserve Division has take-home units deployed throughout the county. Reserve Deputies routinely work special events and perform patrols that support local police departments. These ongoing relationships ensure smooth interoperability during critical incidents, as was proven during this fire storm.
