OKLAHOMA CITY– At the request of Oklahoma Emergency Management and authorization of Governor Kevin Stitt, members of the Oklahoma Army National Guard are responding to wildfires in northwest Oklahoma utilizing UH-60 helicopters and ground hand crews.
"The Oklahoma National Guard stands ready and equipped with both aerial and ground capacities to support our partner agencies in the state,” said Brig. Gen. Bob Walter, assistant adjutant general for Oklahoma. “We have been in continuous communication with the Office of Emergency Management, the Department of Public Safety and Forestry Services for close coordination.”
The buckets used by OKARNG helicopter crews hold up to 660 gallons of water that can be dropped directly on fires or in areas where incident commanders and firefighters want to prevent spread. In addition to aerial support, the Oklahoma National Guard is also providing ground support.
“We have two wildland firefighting crews of eight to ten red-card certified firefighters on State Active Duty working for the incident command,” Walter said.
In the past two years, the Oklahoma National Guard Wildland Firefighting program has trained 130 red card certified Guardsmen and currently has 80 certified and on hand within the state.
Once a request for support is submitted through OEM and approved by the Governor, planners with the Oklahoma National Guard’s Domestic Operations Office begin working with local incident commanders and develop a plan on how to best support firefighting operations.
“I’m very thankful for the National Guard and the expertise that they have to be part of this response,” said Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture,Blayne Arthur. “We appreciate the opportunity to work collaboratively with them.”