Man dies in Pottawatomie County fire as wildfire threat continues to plague state
A wildfire claimed the life of an 80-year-old Pottawatomie County man Saturday as wildfires continued to spark throughout Oklahoma.
Pottawatomie County Undersheriff J.T. Palmer reported Johnny Watson had been on a tractor Friday morning pulling a brush hog, a rotary mower that cuts down thick vegetation, when a fire sparked on his property at 18203 S Rock Creek Road, in a semi-rural part of Shawnee.
It’s possible the brush hog sparked the fire, Palmer said.
It appeared Watson had gotten off the tractor and tried to remove his clothing in a hurry, Palmer said. First responders were dispatched about 10:15 a.m., but by the time they arrived, Watson had died. It’s not clear if he died in the fire or of a medical event, Palmer said. The state medical examiner’s office will make that determination, he said.
Watson suffered second and third degree burns over 100 percent of his body. The fire that started on his property spread across three or four acres into an open field behind his land before firefighters contained the blaze, Palmer said.
Twenty four fires were reported Friday to the state Emergency Management Department, and an additional 15 by late Saturday afternoon. Fires mostly have been reported from counties in central and eastern Oklahoma, as well as the Panhandle’s Beaver County.
A fire drove least 100 Norman residents from their homes Friday and required the National Guard to help douse flames from helicopters.
Creek County requested air support for a fire on Saturday about four miles northwest of Kellyville, where it originally started, said Keli Cain, spokeswoman for the state Emergency Management Department.
A combination of wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour, temperatures in the 60s and low humidity encouraged rapid-spreading wildfires Saturday.
Low humidity, warm temperatures and gusts will feed the fire danger Sunday in the Panhandle. Monday, western Oklahoma will experience those conditions and a higher risk for wildfires, said Bruce Thoren, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman.
Humidity elsewhere in the state is expected to rise Sunday and Monday, which will lessen the fire danger, Thoren said.
The state Emergency Management Department discourages outdoor burning and throwing cigarettes out of car windows. In conditions this favorable to wildfires, even activities such as driving a car over grass or barbecuing can start a wildfire, Cain said.
“Be sure you heed the warnings of local officials,” she said.