'A community thing': Pawnee County resident stays back to help fight flames
Mar 19, 2025
As Pawnee County residents fled from early morning wildfires, Pat Toner stood his ground. He's lived in his home off Cimarron Valley Rd. for 38 years. And he was determined to protect it.Its a community thing, everybody helps ev
erybody out here," he said. 'A community thing': Pawnee County resident stays back to help fight flamesAround 1 a.m., Pat and his wife were woken up by sirens and smoke. Just across the street from their home, a terrifying hue of orange was moving their way. Pat got his wife out the door and to safety, but he stayed back.I hooked up the watering hose and just started watering everything down as quick as possible," he said. "I got part of this bank, and you can see it didnt touch our yard or nothing like that, so I guess we was real lucky.With so many fires starting up across the state, Pat said he had a gut feeling something like this would happen. Thankfully, the fires didn't hop the road to Pat's or his neighbor's homes. "My nerves are still there, though, because you just don't know," he told 2 News. "Today could be calm, and then 8 o'clock at night, here we go again."By mid-afternoon, officials confirmed to 2 News that the Pawnee fire was 75-80% contained. Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere -- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices. Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram SUBSCRIBE on YouTube ...read more read less