Vance supports local fire effort

  • Published
  • By Capt. Tony Wickman
  • Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  A large grass fire Feb. 25 near Byron, Okla., burned hundreds of acres in northwest Oklahoma and kept 35 agencies from around the state and southern Kansas busy with the blaze. 

Among the 35 responding agencies was help from Vance's fire department, which sent a P-18 tanker truck, a command vehicle and a few firefighters to assist with the fire. 

The fire started mid-morning and high winds gusting more than 40 mph made fighting the fire more difficult, leading to requests for additional assistance. 

Byron Fire Chief Bob Rockenbach was the first on scene and assumed the incident commander duties, as well as made the call to ask for additional help. 

"After we rolled on the fire, the wind came up causing (the fire) to jump the Byron blacktop. That is when I knew we were going to need all the help we could get," Chief Rockenbach said. "I knew Kegelman had a big tanker, and we needed to get as much water as we could get on the fire, so we made the request." 

According to Chief Rockenbach, the support from the Vance firefighters and the equipment they brought made a difference in the overall effort. 

"Chief (Larry) Cokeley and Chief (Robert) England helped me keep track of what units were rolling in, where the fire was at, what houses we needed to protect and what property was in the path of the fire," the fire chief said. "They also provided me with a county map that was very helpful to me as the incident commander." 

One of the more valuable tools Vance brought to the scene was a command vehicle. 

"Our chief vehicles have some useful communication equipment that allows us to talk on multiple nets," Chief Cokeley said. "Once we got on scene, Chief Rockenbach asked to use the vehicle as his mobile command post." 

"The vehicle allowed me the opportunity to run my incident command from one spot without being bothered by sightseers wanting to know what was going on with the fire. It allowed me to concentrate on the fire and firefighters," Chief Rockenbach said. 

According to Chief England, the tanker truck was used to fill multiple trucks fighting the blaze. 

"Our P-18 tanker pumped water from a clear water pond near the fire to other trucks fighting the fire," he said. "We pumped nearly 50,000 gallons of water to more than 10 trucks that day." 

Both chiefs Cokeley and England said it was important to fulfill the request from a neighboring fire department because of Vance's long-standing mutual aid agreements. 

"We've got mutual aid agreements with many of the towns surrounding the base and Kegelman, and they have come to our aid when we've needed it," Chief England said. "When we got everyone on the telephone to talk about this request, Col. (Jennifer) Graham said she absolutely wanted to support it. With the concurrence of wing leadership we got our approval and sent our people and equipment out." 

Other firefighters from Vance who assisted in the effort included Jeremy Dershem, Myles Dershem, Fred Folger and Austin Bullis. 

"Many of our people live in these towns and are volunteer firefighters in the surrounding communities. It was important to us that we honor a request from a neighbor," Chief Cokeley said. 

Looking back, Chief Rockenbach said he was glad to have the help. 

"When you have a fire of this magnitude, you have to figure out how to stop it, including finding out what resources you can get a hold of to help," he said. "I didn't know if we were going to be able to get it stopped or not, but I was sure tickled to have the help of Chief England and Chief Cokeley because I wouldn't have been able to do it all myself. Vance has always been supportive whenever we've needed help, and we've helped them when they have needed us." 

The fire line for the blaze extended approximately 9.5 miles long and nearly 1.5 miles wide in places. The fire was under control and mostly extinguished by 7 p.m.