ODESSA, Texas — Odessa Fire Rescue (OFR) has been fighting two huge fires in a matter of days.
"The apartment fire, the RV's that caught fire, the four RV's, the five vehicles and the storage building, those are a little bit out of the ordinary," says Odessa Fire Rescue Chief Jason Cotton.
Many homes have been set ablaze in Odessa lately, but we're not seeing more fires, we're seeing bigger fires.
OFR said the battle against the fires is getting a little more difficult.
"Our biggest challenge is the size of department we are," Cotton said. "If we have a large fire like the apartment complex, it taxes our resources."
Thankfully, no injuries came from either the Fairgreen Apartment fire or the West Odessa RV fire.
"We don't ever want anybody to get hurt in the fire, not only the public but ourselves," said Cotton. "These two fires like we had the past couple days, those are a little bit larger than normal. The one out West it was outside. It was never anything that we had to enter and I believe all the occupants were actually gone from their RVs at the time."
With the summer heat already in West Texas, Chief Cotton says homeowners can stop a fire in its track and all they have to do is follow a few key steps.
"Use smoke alarms that alert you when there's a fire going on," Cotton said. "Those are going to help people get out. We push our smoke alarm program fairly hard and do a lot of smoke alarm installs."
It also doesn't hurt to have a fire extinguisher nearby.
If you need a deeper safety knowledge, OFR has got you covered.
"We push hard with schools," Cotton said. "We go to the elementary schools, talk to kids, we do fire, smoke detector installs. We do programs. People can come by here we can hold classes just whatever we can do to help. "
Following these safety tips, won't add fuel to the fire.