Forestry Firing: Gov. Stitt defends decision to fire chief after wildfires

In the wake of last month’s deadly wildfires that swept across Oklahoma, which claimed four lives and destroyed more than 500 homes, Gov. Kevin Stitt made a controversial and high-profile decision to fire State Forestry Director Mark Goeller.

The move came just days after the flames were extinguished, with the Governor citing a failure to deploy all available resources during the emergency.

Adding a personal layer to the crisis, Stitt lost his ranch in the fires north of Luther. His remarks since have sparked heated debate among lawmakers, fire officials, and members of the Republican party.

Some fire chiefs have publicly called for Goeller’s reinstatement, while others back the Governor’s decision, saying more accountability is needed within the state’s wildfire response.

Stitt has escalated his criticism of the Oklahoma Department of Forestry, suggesting the agency should be eliminated, and describing the agency as an entrenched bureaucracy. The move has sparked backlash from firefighters and state officials.

News 9 sat down with Gov. Stitt for a conversation about what led to the firing, what he expects from the ongoing investigation, and what comes next for Oklahoma’s wildfire strategy.

Q: How many resources does the forestry department have, and how do you know only half were deployed?

A: Well that was the biggest problem. It's taken us three weeks we finally got answers last night about where were the resources and this is why I'm so happy you're having me on, because Oklahomans deserve answers. it was horrible there. Four people died, homes were destroyed thousands of acres of ranch land, and when I found out that not all of our resources were deployed on these historic fires, I lost it on the bureaucracy. Listen, I love our firefighters, our rural firefighters, and our volunteer firefighters, but they needed state resources and the bureaucracy let them down and did not deploy them.

Q: Where did the communication breakdown occur?

A: You know, that's also the problem. We have a war room, so to speak. Annie Vest runs that, and they're not there working with them saying, hey, we've got these resources. Guthrie's calling for more resources. Stillwater, Mannford. I found out we had one forestry person in the Manford fire. That destroyed a bunch of homes, and yet we left 47 people in southeast Oklahoma. And that's when I said, I've got to hold someone accountable. As governor, this is unacceptable. We needed all of our fire hoses pointing at those fires, right? I'm not frustrated that there were fires. That's going to happen. But when we didn't use those resources wisely, that's when I'm going to hold it accountable. And you know what? Trump, this is what happens with President Trump. You'd fire a bureaucrat and everybody starts spinning and going out of control. Oh my gosh, somebody lost their job. I will hold people accountable if they're not doing their job in supporting our local firefighters and actually suppressing fires in the state of Oklahoma.

Q: How quickly can you move these resources once they're staged?

A: I'm not mad about the fact that maybe they took an hour late or two hours or whatever, but we had plenty of notice to stage where they were coming from. But then even on Saturday and Sunday, if you remember, humidity levels went back up, and the winds died down. At that point, we didn't even, two days afterward, we didn't get all of our resources to put the fires out. Because remember, then it sprung back up that following week with high winds and low humidity. And we didn't even get the fires out when we should have. So don't you think we should have brought all of our resources on? We were asking for Louisiana and Arkansas to come help, and we didn't even have all of our resources. That's where I said this is unacceptable.

Q: What would be done with the $75 million in state budget if the forestry department were eliminated?

A: I said that because we were getting no answers. It took us three weeks. So we had to fire a couple more people at the top level of forestry because it was insubordination to Blaine Arthur. They were trying to get answers. Listen, we're not going to get rid of forestry. I love our forestry. Those guys are doing what they're told. The bureaucracy at the top, and their management let them down by not deploying them accurately. And so... $75 million, you're exactly right. That's a lot of money. Let's make sure that that's at our rural firefighters. There's a lot of pass-through dollars to go into our volunteer fire departments. And so that's the point. I want to make sure that next time we have a wildfire, because we're going to have it again, and as a manager and as the businessman governor, I want to make sure that we have all of our hoses pointed on those fires to protect lives and homes.

Q: Why did you not institute a statewide burn ban?

A: We're going to do that every time any vest or the people tell me to. Counties can already do it, but it didn't hit the threshold at that point is what they told me. But we'll do it every time that they tell me that they think it's necessary

Maybe we need to look at the threshold again, but absolutely. If you could magically say something and say, hey, let's not create fires, let's do it. We think of power lines, we want to look at some controlled burns under power lines. We think that might have contributed a little bit with the high winds. They started some of those fires. So, yeah, we're looking at everything. I want to go back and find out what could we do better next time, right? That's what you do. You're not really... frustrated with the fact that there were fires. There are always going to be fires that hit our state but we want to make sure that we're the we're the most well prepared, and we think through that we stage things correctly, and we at least get all of our state assets on those major fires, and we triage, and we make sure that we're fighting the fires correctly.

Q: Do you think you'll fire more people?

A: Hopefully not. But, when Blaine Arthur is the Secretary of Agriculture and she runs the Department of Ag and that group reports up to her, I think most Oklahomans would find it amazing when she goes in and asks questions and is trying to get answers, and it takes us three weeks to find out where those assets, where they're deployed. They were hiding that because they knew they screwed up. In our opinion, it shouldn't take three weeks to hold people accountable, so Oklahomans agree with me. We need to hold the bureaucracy accountable. Let's make sure the dollars are on target, actually on the mission that they're supposed to be doing.

Q: What do you say to Republican lawmakers who are pushing back on your statements?

A: It's hard. They're not on the inside of the conversation. So it's hard when somebody loses their job and they've got friends and the fire department sees, well, we don't want to see our buddy lose his job. But I think when Oklahomans realize half of the resources weren't deployed to Guthrie and Manford and Stillwater and Norman and Oklahoma City. That's unacceptable to me, right? We didn't have these fires in southeast Oklahoma. The fires were right here, 192,000 acres. So I think once they understand that, I think we win this argument. Oklahomans know I fired a bureaucrat who refused to get those assets, who left them out. We're in a football game, and I've got all these resources on the sidelines sitting there. That's the problem.

READ MORE:

1. Oklahoma Forestry Service Director fired over wildfire response
2. Oklahoma firefighters react after Gov. Stitt fires head of forestry department
3. Tulsa firefighter speaks out on firing of Oklahoma Forestry Director
4. AG Drummond Criticizes Governor's Ouster of Forestry Director Over Wildfire Response
5. Oklahoma Forestry Director's firing sparks negative reactions among firefighters and state officials
6. 'I have been falsely accused:' Former Oklahoma Forestry Department head responds to firing
7. Governor Stitt speaks out on firing of Oklahoma Forestry Director Mark Goeller
8. Gov. Stitt Proposes Disbanding the Oklahoma Forestry Services Over Wildfire Response
9. 'That is unacceptable:' State lawmakers respond to Governor’s call to disband the State Forestry Department
10. Rep. Humphrey calls on Gov. Stitt to restore Forestry Director
11. Lincoln Co. fire chiefs pen letter in support of ousted Oklahoma Forestry Services head