WATONGA – A thick plume of black smoke could be seen rising southeast of Watonga Monday afternoon, but the fire department responded with several trucks and was able to put out the fire before it consumed any structures or spread widely.
Watonga Fire Chief Robert Daugherty said the blaze was a controlled burn “at first,” though one that hadn’t been reported in advance. “It was a trash pit that got out of control,” Daugherty told the Watonga Republican. “There were numerous stacks of … some people call it flat-lay hose, like they use for fracking, running alongside the road.”
The “hundreds” of plastic, rubbery hoses caught fire as it grew out of control, Daugherty said, creating the dark smoke.
A nearby structure went undamaged, he said. The fire consumed the hoses, trash, brush and a few hay bales, but little else. The department responded with four trucks, including a tanker and two heavy brush trucks.
The fire came on the same day the Watonga Fire Department performed a controlled burn at Roman Nose State Park. Daugherty said the previous night’s rains perhaps created a “false sense of security,” as the grass is still burning readily.
“We did all those controlled burns at Roman Nose yesterday, and they burned, really, too good for just having rain the night before.”