It started as a controlled burn, and ended threatening several structures as fire crews battled the blaze.Shortly before 2 p.m., last Thursday, Craig Hadley was burning some brush, according to Central High Volunteer Fire Department chief Dan Eberhart.
Eberhart said that winds began to shift, and increase, and Hadley’s controlled burn quickly turned to an out-of-control blaze.
It was the second fire in a four-day period that received response from the CHVFD near the intersection of Osage Road (Duncan) and Eight-Mile Road. As firefighters began to arrive, the fire was following a path paved by shifting winds, making its way to the wood-frame home of Connie Sue Mellin.
Eberhart said the shifting winds sent crews over to stop the flames from reaching Mellin’s home. Charred ground could be seen only a few feet from Mellin’s back porch.
A barn belonging to Mellin was not as fortunate as flames engulfed the metal building, and a travel trailer on Hadley’s property was nothing but a charred frame when the flames were finally brought under control.
The thick black smoke could be seen as far away as the south side of Marlow as the blaze grew more and more out of control.
The first fire worked by the CHVFD was a swather that caught fire in the late afternoon of Aug. 23, Eberhart said.