PAWNEE COUNTY, Okla. — First responders from Pawnee County highlighted their need for community help after continually battling the fires in the area.

The county-wide efforts to combat the fires have exhausted crews in the area and exposed a need from rural departments that the community is trying to meet.

“Right now, we’re just needing help,” said Terlton Fire Department Chief T.J. Flager. “These small departments in Pawnee County, they don’t have a lot. We’re just doing the best that we can for our community and that’s why we’re talking to you now to see if we can get some help.”

While crews continue to monitor hot spots left over from the wildfires in Pawnee County, some first responders met with FOX23 in Cleveland.

Many of them were on the front lines combatting the fires and assisting the people who were displaced. All of them said they were exhausted and in need of support.

“It’ll be good to it have to behind us,” said District 3 Pawnee County Commissioner Curt Mullin. “I mean, my goodness, we’ve been nine days straight now.”

Chris Chailer, the director of Pawnee County Emergency Management, added, “Day number nine started last Tuesday. I don’t even remember what time it was and we’ve been hard at it ever since. All these volunteer fire departments, they’ve been running like crazy.”

Community leaders also spoke about the strain their fire departments have been under.

Cleveland Mayor Chris Gabriel said, “Obviously Cleveland being such a rural community, the outlying areas have been hit really hard so we’re using a lot of resources in the city extended to the county. It seems like police and fire departments have been running real hard since last Friday.”

Chief Flager said they’re currently working hard to put out hot spots to prevent any fires from reigniting.

“We’re just mopping up. We’re trying to get all these hot spots out because these winds will pick up. We highly recommend nobody burn because we don’t need to continue to try and chase this.”

Terlton Fire Department runs primarily off volunteers. Chief Flager said he had 11 people in his department.

“They’re tired. They’re wore out,” said Flager. “I had guys that are worried about their jobs because they took away from their jobs to come help these people in need. The volunteers that are out there everywhere, they were needed for this. So just keep that in mind that they were needed.”

Chief Flager said they’re open to any kind of help from the community, such as equipment to move brushes, volunteers, or donations of water and eye drops.

“What we’re needing is leaf blowers and chainsaws to help us do the lines that we need to do to get through and get these fires stopped.”

Pawnee County Emergency Management said they’re still working with FEMA to gauge the extent of all the damage before any major cleanup and rebuilding can begin.

Chailer stated, “We finished up the assessments with FEMA. Now, I’m waiting to tell all the people, ‘You can clean up.’ I know it’s a hard time waiting, but FEMA wanted to see all the damage, and that way, it helps us get more help.”

All the officials said the overall need is from the fire departments and those impacted by the fires. With Pawnee County being primarily a rural town, natural disasters like these display the needed support for rural fire departments.

“When you’re donating, go and see what they need,” said Cleveland Police Chief Clinton Stout. “Don’t just show up with items because you may show up with a truck full of clothes and they don’t need any clothes. They may need eye drops. They need bolt cutters. Just reach out to them and see what their needs are.”

One place currently accepting donations for fire departments in need is the Mannford VFW Center. To see a list of the items they need, click here.

The VFW said they’ll be accepting donations from 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM daily.

You can also reach out directly to the fire department to ask if there are any specific items they need.

The rural fire departments also said they’re always in need of more volunteers from the community.