As places like Stillwater suffered catastrophic losses and damage last Friday, firefighters in the Heart of Oklahoma felt fortunate.

“We got lucky around here,” Purcell Assistant Fire Chief Rocky Claunch said.

Purcell Firefighters were called out nine times during the wind storm that sparked fires from Norman to north of Stillwater.

Stillwater was hit the hardest with an estimated 75 homes destroyed by what has been called a fire tornado that ate home after home in at least two different neighborhoods.

Some 300 homes were destroyed in Norman, Oklahoma City and other places around the state.

“We spoke with the National Weather Service last Wednesday and they told us the worst on Friday would be from Oklahoma City to Stillwater. They were right,” Claunch said.

According to weather.com the highest gust around Purcell was 60 m.p.h.

The ferocious winds downed power lines in several different spots around town and even uprooted a tree at the corner of  Third and Delaware.

The high winds were blamed for a power outage at Dibble affecting 2,600 OEC customers.

Among those affected was the Dibble School, which was in session. School was dismissed. Electricity was off for 1 1/2 to 2 hours before coming back on line around 3 p.m.

With winds on Monday averaging around 25 m.p.h. and additional windy days predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday, Claunch said all he and his department can do is wait it out.

“We’re keeping the trucks gassed up and the tankers full of water.

“Most of our calls last Friday were for downed power lines,” Claunch said.

The high winds cause the lines to gallop. When two lines come together they throw off sparks that could lead to grass fires.

It was grass fires in Oklahoma City and Stillwater that eventually led to structures catching on fire.

Fortunately, the winds for the early part of the week did not come close to matching the perfect storm of wind like we had last Friday.