Community Gathers to Support Fire Victims, Families

In the aftermath of Railroad South Fire in Indiahoma, the community has been fundraising and hosting various events.

The first event was an Indian Taco sale on September 1, and the proceeds were split amongst families.

The Comanche Nation held a vigil on September 10 at its headquarters and gave a chance for the community and families to speak about and remember those who died in the fire.

Celena Romo, with the help of several other individuals, coordinated a benefit powwow on September 12.

She said this was a time to honor those who lost anything they had and to remind others they’re there to support them.

“When everything happened, the day that everything happened, everything had gone so fast, I just kept thinking, we have to do something. There's got to be something that we can do to bring everybody together as a community to get things taken care of,” Romo said. “And people were already out doing the clothing drives and things for the homes, and so the first thing that my mom and I thought was we could do a benefit powwow and invite everybody out and everybody could be together and show the support all together as one for these families that have just gone through everything that they just went through with this fire because it's a lot emotionally and you know physically and everything that they lost and hopefully we can just show that we care and the community is there for them.”

She said that was a neighborhood from her own childhood, and now she lives three miles away.

“On a personal level, the area that was hit by this fire is where I grew up, the Timberlane area. I lived there almost my whole childhood, and my brother lived there, my cousins lived there [who] lost their home,” Romo said. “My sister lived down Holsey Acre Road, and my cousin and my uncle. So, I had a lot of family that was impacted by this, and like I said, it's where I grew up. It's where a lot of my memories are, and it affected the whole community because a lot of us have connections in that area. It's where our families came from.”

She said it was such a large fire and moved quickly, so the residents didn’t know what was going on.

“It was big. We had people that were being detoured, just driving around Indiahoma, and you wanted to do something to help, and you know, so a lot of us would get out and try to tell people, you know, like which routes to take to get back to Altus or back to Lawton,” Romo said. “And trying to help to start getting things together for the fire department, water and other resources for them. So, it happens very quickly, and so like the area that was covered and everything, it was fast.”

She wants everyone to continue to help with relief efforts.

“Even the ones that their homes are still intact and their homes were saved, it's still a lot of emotional impact on each and every one of those people, and for sure, our wildlife officer that we lost in that, I want to make sure everybody's praying for him and his family during this time. So, he was a true hero in the sense of being there for somebody that he didn't even know, and he risked his life for him, and I'm just grateful for all of our volunteer fire departments, our Comanche Nation fire department, everybody that came out and helped,” Romo said. “I just want to say thank you. Our community wants to say thank you. And we have, coming up here in just a couple of weeks, our Indiahoma Fire Department actually has their big supper and fundraiser that they do every year. So, if you guys want to support a local fire department, come out and join us.”

Indiahoma Native American Club Princess Tiana McClung was at a birthday party when the fire broke out.

“From that day, I remember we were at my little nephew's birthday, just having fun, great time, and the party was somewhat getting over, and I decided I wanted to stay over and just hang out. All of a sudden, we hear my uncle, and I'm freaking out, and they're like, ‘Hey, we're gonna go check out this fire and try to put it out. It's getting close to my house.’ And we're like, ‘Okay.’ We didn't think of anything of it,” she said. “So, they went out, my grandma left, and my little sister and stuff, they left. We went out, and it wasn't looking too good. There was this big old fire; we saw it jump the road, blow up a few things, stuff like that. I had to comfort my little niece. She was crying and freaking out, and her friend was over, so I had to comfort both of them. I was actually recording it. We had to get stuff, evacuate, and then they had the roads cut off and stuff, so we had to go all the way through the refuge and stuff to evacuate. But I remember in that moment, it was just horrible because it was so close to my family and all my friends.”

McClung said this isn’t the first time she’s been impacted by a fire.

“And as soon as I got home, I was asking so many questions, and I was reliving through these moments that I had when I was a little kid. On my dad's side of the family, I had these two grandparents and their house caught on fire, and they ended up dying in that house, and that's kind of what it reminded me of. And realizing how close it was to my close family, I should say,” she said. “It was just tragic, stuff like that. I kept running…between my house and my brother's house, trying to figure out stuff. I figured out that two more fires started that day and that it was really close to my grandpa Leonard's house, which was sad because my heyyah grandpa, which is…Chibitty, he has so many belongings of him inside that house. I was worried that if that house caught on fire, we would lose basically everything we had. And yeah, we still have memories of him, but it's we just those belongings are just real sacred, and you know, stuff like that and caring to the family.”

McClung said she was trying to figure out ways to help and comforting her mom and grandmother.

“That day was…starting off as a good day, and then all of a sudden, like that, you can just realize how something can get taken from you and then so quick in that moment. And then finally things cooled down. It was my uncle's house right here, then you have the trees and stuff, and the fire was just across the road, not that far. So, I'm glad that it didn't get his house or my auntie or any of them because my mom grew up in that house also. But we kept praying, stuff like that, and eventually the fire went out.”

She said the fire started small, jumped the road and blew up a few things, which McClung believes were propane tanks.

Indiahoma Native American Club has been gathering clothes, furniture and anything else people have lost in the fire.

 Comanche Nation Little Ponies Princess Isabela Ramirez, an Indiahoma resident, was also at the powwow.

“I donated a shawl and a couple of the snacks for the powwow here today, but if anyone does ever need anything, I hope they're able to reach out to me in any way,” she said. “I'll try to help.”

Ramirez was out of state when the fire occurred.

“I was over in Arizona with the Comanche Little Ponies, but we did have some family and friends that were caught in that little area,” she said. “So, we opened up our house, and we just let anybody take their animals, whoever needed help, just to come stay at our house, however long they needed.”

Ramirez said it was great to see the communities come together.

“From being a small town, it's like a huge family. We're always there for each other,” she said. “And just being able to see not even just our own small community, but people from all around come here to help support it, it truly does mean a lot.”

Ramirez’s message to everyone is to be there for each other.

“We're really going through a hard time right now, not even just from the fires. A lot of stuff has been happening within the community, and it's a lot on a whole bunch of people, families, and everything, but just be there for one another,” she said. “Help out wherever you can, and even if you can't help physically, at least give a kind message. Don't be hateful, because it's both physical and mental with what happened.”

Ramirez said the shinny ball team didn’t attend Shoshone reunion and voted to instead give those proceeds to families.

A golf scramble was also held on September 14 at Lawton Country Club to also raise funds.

The Railroad South Fire covered over 500 acres and destroyed five homes. A wildlife officer and a Comanche veteran both died. The cause is still under investigation by the FBI. Comanche Nation Police Department and Fire Department, as well as many other agencies, were on scene.