Fire Chief Discusses Wildfires In Western Oklahoma

Fires in the panhandle of Texas and western Oklahoma have been raging for days, burning tens of thousands of acres.

Oklahoma Forestry Service's Fire Chief Andy James spoke with News 9 Sunday morning to discuss the fires.

"So what we saw was a really violent fire weather system that moved in," James said. "We just have certain days where the fire environment lines up and you know, fires are going to get big. And when that happens, our priority is public safety, responder safety and protecting values at risk."

The OFS has partnered with other agencies on the federal and tribal level, James says, and they are using planes to dump buckets of water on the flames.