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Flames from a recent fire in Louisiana, which CNO fire fighters helped to quell.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma dispatched two fire crews late Tuesday night. A crew of 19 fire fighters has been sent to a blaze near Ada, Okla. and 20 more went to Mena, Ark., just north of Fort Smith.

Many of the fire fighters had just returned from fighting other fires around the country over the weekend.

"We're keeping everybody pretty close to home right now," said Paul Washington, who coordinates the Cherokee Nation fire fighters. "It’s pretty severe here in Oklahoma, and we need to keep our fire crews around here."

The crews usually fight fires for fourteen straight days, before heading home for a break. This summer, those breaks have often been short.

"As soon as we put one fire out, another one pops up somewhere else," Washington said. "It’s so dry this summer that I expect we'll keep these guys busy until mid-November."