KTEN.com - Texoma news, weather and sportsLove County Fire Burns Over 1,400 Acres

Love County Fire Burns Over 1,400 Acres

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It was a developing story all afternoon, Thursday.  Flames that crawled across northern Love County.  KTEN's Meredith Saldana was there all afternoon, she has more on the story.

The Love County Sheriff's Department says about 1,400 acres burned Thursday.

I rode along with the sheriff's department while they monitored the fire.      

It was 9 miles west of I-35 on Oswalt Road.      

At one time there were over 15 fire departments working together to save homes in Love County.     

Some from as far away as Purcell were helping fight this one.     

Some homes were evacuated as the flames flickered right up into the front yards.     

John Nipp has lived in his home for 35 years and says the flames were right up against his house.

"Oh we could feel the heat me and these gentlemen that's sitting here, back there at the back," says Nipp.  "It was just getting worse by the minute that's how bad it was."

Criner Hills Firefighter Michael Campbell says, "It gets into the timber and it's so thick you can't get a truck in there, you have to wait till it burns out.  You have to wait till it burns out to an open pasture to get to."

Firefighters said there are canyons that they can't drive into that posed a problem all day as well as the strong winds.     

No word of serious injuries but firefighters also battled the un-usually high temperatures, close to ninety degrees.     

As for how it started, authorities suspect arson.

They're looking for a white pickup maybe late 90's model or early 2000.     

-Meredith Saldana, KTEN News