Hamby Declared Wildfire 2025

At approximately 0800 CST on March 11, fire personnel and resources arrived at the Hamby Unit to review the unit layout and plan fireline strategy for burning the southern portion of the unit. After initial scouting, resources indicated that it was difficult to determine where all the control lines (leaf blower lines) were located. The RXB2 qualified (Q) went to assist with line location and after identifying lines were not completed, the decision was made to implement burning on the north portion of the Hamby Unit only. The northern portion of the unit is considerably smaller (80 acres) with control lines that consist of county roads, the Spavinaw Creek, and a dry creek bed. After a delay due to the change in units, a test fire was started at 1245. Operations proceeded as planned, with moderate fire behavior observed even though relative humidity (RH) values dropped below the forecasted minimums.
At 1600, fire personnel received a call from the Zone Fire Management Specialist, indicating a neighbor adjacent to the unit reported fire moving toward some chicken coops and their neighbor’s house. The prescribed fire was declared a wildfire at approximately 1630 when resources identified a 3.5-acre spot fire on private property. The spot fire was burning native grass pasture, and a portion of an out-of-service chicken coop. Mutual aid resources were notified and responded from three neighboring Volunteer Fire Departments (VFD) to support on-scene resources.