Sometimes the threat posed by our fierce Oklahoma winds is just frightening.
Three weeks ago, that fear was manifested in some ferocious wildfires that cost a few people their lives and cost many more their homes as well as killed livestock and wiped out grasslands and hay stockpiles.
The fires in Dewey, Woodward, Ellis, Roger Mills and Jackson counties have been well documented. Unfortunately, we’re becoming accustomed to this kind of devastation, with catastrophic fires in each of the last three years in western Oklahoma.
Relief on the way to Dewey County during the recent wildfires.
I want to shine a light on the many OSU folks who have stepped up to help people cope with and recover from the most recent fires. In doing so, I confess I don’t know all of the ways our people have contributed and acknowledge that many other organizations also came forward with assistance, often in partnership with DASNR and others.
As the fire was erupting on Thursday and Friday, April 12 and 13, our Woodward County Extension office quickly became the center of the network coordinating donations of hay and fencing supplies.
Meanwhile, our Dewey County office was forced closed on that unlucky Friday as the fires came so close to Taloga that electricity was cut off. From past experiences, our staff has learned how to track information on incoming hay and fencing donations and how to allocate supplies to those calling for assistance. That expertise was developed last year with coordination between our Harper County office and our Information Technology team on campus. This year the state Emergency Management office got involved and provided some extra phones from their network so calls could be fielded by county Extension staff at different locations.
As that was going on, our Agricultural Communications Services staff shifted into gear, sending help to Woodward County to set up communications links and strategies as well as coordinate information sharing efforts so updates could be sent through the county Facebook page and other social media directly from campus, freeing the county staff to focus on addressing its immediate needs.
Again, thanks to experience from previous years, we had content ready to go on everything from how to document losses for livestock indemnification to how to check on the quality of donated hay to how to deal with the emotional stress of losing a home, livestock and a livelihood.
Very quickly, a number of sites were set up to receive monetary donations to support those in need, including agricultural organizations such as the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Oklahoma Farm Bureau and American Farmers and Ranchers. In addition, the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation established a donation site to help 4-H families who lost homes in the fires.
There are many ways to measure the impact of our work. Those measures may pale in comparison to the impact of the losses that people experienced, but ultimately, our response showed the greatest strength of our organization: its heart.
That heart comes from us caring about the people we serve, being smart about organizing ourselves and others to address a challenge and knowing deep down that applying what we’ve learned from research and past experience is the best contribution we can make in response to the needs of our neighbors.
I simply want to say thank you to the many colleagues who stepped up in so many ways. We appreciate what you do every day, and at times like this, you prove the value of having a land-grant university represented in every county of the state, with access to experts in a variety of fields. We extend our condolences to everyone who lost their lives, homes, livestock and forage. We hope that together we can help you and our neighbors recover.
