Two MS Firefighters Suffer Burns Battling Wildfire

A Harrison County woods fire that burned hundreds of acres and sent one firefighter to the hospital was considered under control as of early Thursday morning, Harrison County Fire Chief Pat Sullivan told the Sun Herald.

The fire, which burned at least 672 acres, was first reported near West Wortham Road and McHenry Road by firefighters who had just finished extinguishing a structure fire in the area. The blaze then traveled two miles toward McDowell Road.

One firefighter was burned and held overnight in the hospital before being released, and another was burned on his hands, Sullivan said.

“This was basically hand-to-hand combat,” he said. “Sometimes the fire was yards away from homes. It was an all-hands-on-deck effort. That’s why we didn’t have any homes to burn because of the extraordinarily brave and hard work that all the fighters did from all agencies.”

Sullivan said at least 50 houses were threatened by the blaze.

The U.S. Forestry Service and fire departments from Jackson County, Ocean Springs, D’Iberville, Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach, Keesler Air Force Base and the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport showed up to help get the fire under control.

U.S. Forestry and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department both provided aircraft to support the effort.

“It was a fast-moving fire,” Sullivan said. “It was unpredictable because the winds were variable. It would blow one direction hard and go another direction in a 90-degree turn.”

The unpredictability of the fire helped contribute to the two injuries and damage to couple of brush trucks.

“We had two brush trucks and a command truck that were on a line, and the fire was not a problem at that time,” Sullivan said. “And then the wind changed, pushing fire to them. As they were trying to get out, they got in an area that was muddy. They couldn’t go through it as fast as they would have if they had been on a dry road. The fire did damage both trucks.”

It wasn’t until 2 a.m. Thursday morning that Sullivan considered the blaze under control.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for South Mississippi Wednesday morning, but that warning expired at 7 p.m. and conditions have improved for those fighting fires in the area.

Sullivan, who remained on site with other members of his department on Thursday afternoon, worries that the fire could begin to grow again.

“As we’ve seen in every fire we’ve fought for the last month, it’s fine until it’s not fine,” he said. “Because one moment it will be benign, calm and totally under control. The next minute, we have winds gusting 20-30 miles per hour with low humidity. It’s hard to control.

“We are certainly making sure we have the resources to protect people’s property. There are a lot of homes that the fire could still threaten if the conditions change.”

Sullivan said that the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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