The chief of a local volunteer fire department wants Gov. Kevin Stitt impeached following threats from the governor to dissolve the state forestry service.
After wildfires tore through Oklahoma in mid-March, Stitt claimed the state forestry service withheld resources. He revealed at a press conference last week that Forestry Services Director Mark Goeller was out of a job.
And on Wednesday, Stitt questioned why the state has a forestry service at all.
“Let’s just get rid of the whole thing. That would save $75 million for the taxpayers, or let’s take $50 million of that. Let’s give that to our local firefighters. Let’s give that to our volunteer fire departments,” he said.
Rep. Justin Humphrey (R-Lane) disputes Stitt's math, saying forestry's budget for this fiscal year is $24.4 million.
The governor’s words prompted Olive Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jason Dobson to share a petition on Facebook to impeach Stitt.
“It’s not going to happen. However, citizens and firefighters of Oklahoma need the governor to understand his actions are inappropriate, and he needs to listen to the citizens,” Dobson said.
Dobson said his department relies on the forestry service.
“They have resources that I can’t ever imagine having. Dozers, trucks, fire engines. Which we have the same type of fire engines that they do, but they have more of them, of course,” he said.
Dobson said he’s been asked to go to the Capitol with other fire chiefs across the state to meet with the Legislature about the forestry service.
Stitt on Wednesday doubled down on his claim that the forestry service didn’t perform as it should have during the fires, which scorched nearly 200,000 acres and killed four people. He called the forestry service a “deep-seated bureaucracy” and said his administration hasn’t gotten answers about where services were during the fires.
In a Facebook post Sunday, Goeller said he’s being “falsely accused of not performing the duties to protect life and property in a timely manner.” Goeller said the forestry service did not withhold resources during the fires.
Editor's note: This article was updated to clarify language around forestry's current budget.
