Firefighters were able to extinguish a fire that spread over part of an Okemos house, yard and surrounding forest Tuesday afternoon.

There were no injuries and the fire was under control within 50 minutes, said Meridian Township Fire Department Battalion Chief Rocky Larner.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and property owners would not comment.

Larner said he did not know an estimated amount of damage.

While firefighters secured the house and surrounding area, tankers carrying thousands of gallons of water waited at the end of the long driveway in case more water was needed.

Since the rural area doesn't have fire hydrants, volunteers from the Ingham County Tanker Task Force will haul as much as 30,000 gallons of water to the scene of a fire, said Don Gailey.

Gailey organized the task force more than 10 years ago.

He waited in a large red tanker truck, which holds 3,000 gallons, in case more water was needed Tuesday afternoon.

Gailey, a retired Mason resident who's been a volunteer fireman for nearly 50 years, organized the task force after realizing the need for organization at a large fire about 15 years ago.

There were tankers before, he said, but they weren't organized. Now about a dozen tankers from 11 towns in Ingham and Eaton counties work together each time there's a fire in the area.

Tankers are stored full of water at the fire department.

When there's a fire, volunteers are contacted and then drive the tankers to the scene, where they hose water into a 2,100-gallon portable tank, which looks like a square children's pool.

From there, water is hosed out to the fire.

It only takes a few minutes to empty the tanks, Gailey said.

In case of larger fires, the volunteers have a system for shuttling water from hydrants to the scene.

In Tuesday's fire, two trucks were able to supply enough water directly from their tanks — so none of the water in the portable tank was necessary, said Dave Harper, chief of training for the Meridian Township Fire Department.