Published: April 17, 2009 02:44 pm      

FEMA assesses damage

\Grady County Emergency Management Director Dale Thompson spent most of Thursday taking FEMA representatives and state officials around the county to view fire damage caused by grassfires fanned by intense winds last week.

The information gathered will be handed over to Governor Brad Henry to determine whether to ask for a federal declaration.

Several fires burned out of control last week in Rush Springs, Pocasset and on the Grady-McClain line.

While the Rush Springs fire, which destroyed two homes and significantly damaged another, was reportedly purposely set, Thompson said, “It is still under investigation, but from information given to fire officials, it is believed it was probably a controlled fire that got out of control. We are still trying to confirm that and it is still under investigation.”

Thompson said there shouldn’t have been anybody burning that day because of the weather conditions, and that the fire may have been set the previous day but continued to burn overnight.

“The fire that occurred on the Grady-McClain County line burned 7,000 acres, one home and two or three barns and a shed,” said Thompson. “It could have been set by trash burning, but it is also still under investigation.”

The fires were among several statewide on April 9when as as many as 150 homes were destroyed across Oklahoma..