Warm, dry and windy weather in Oklahoma has fueled multiple wildfires and prompted authorities to urge nearly one-third of the residents of the small city of Woodward to flee.
Matt Lehenbauer, director of emergency management for Woodward and its nearly 12,000 inhabitants, said the evacuation recommendation covers roughly 4,000 people. It is voluntary, he said, because Oklahoma prohibits mandatory evacuations.
The wildfire in Woodward, about 140 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, is approaching a “worst-case scenario,” Lehenbauer said, but it hasn’t moved into the most populated area of the city.
A blaze in Beaver County at the base of the Oklahoma Panhandle, about 217 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, has consumed an estimated 15,000 acres alone, Oklahoma Forestry Services said.The agency posted video of golden farmland set against the backdrop of roiling flames and dark smoke rising and sidestepping like a thunderstorm.
“The fire in Beaver County is continuing to spread,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement. “Winds are gusting over 65 mph.”
Stitt said he was being briefed at the State Emergency Operations Center, which was tracking the larger fires, including one in Texas County.
The fires consumed fuel along the western and northwestern areas of the state as unusually warm weather, predicted by the National Weather Service to reach as much as 25 degrees above normal during the day, was joined by gusting winds out of the southwest of more than 60 mph.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone has been injured or structures have burned.
The Beaver County fire on Tuesday crossed into Kansas, that state’s forest service said. The focus of firefighting efforts is in the city of Englewood, the Kansas Forest Service said.
Gov. Laura Kelly had issued an emergency proclamation Sunday warning of dangerous fire weather through Thursday.
Kansas’ emergency operations center was staffed Tuesday with personnel from the State Fire Marshal Office, the Kansas Forest Service, the Kansas Highway Patrol and state Transportation Department, state officials said. Parts of Interstate 70 and U.S. 50 were closed as wind-driven dust creates poor visibility, Kansas officials said in a statement.
The Oklahoma Agriculture Department said temperatures along the western edge of the state could reach as high as 85 degrees Wednesday.
The weather service office in Norman, Oklahoma, said the fire weather could stick around until at least Friday. The state Agriculture Department said in a statement that conditions will start to weaken Thursday as winds shift from the southwest to the northwest, pulling in cooler air.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, new fires also erupted in Texas, New Mexico and Missouri as the warm, dry air settled into the Central Plains following a storm front over the weekend.
The National Weather Service said Tuesday that more than 21 million people were under fire weather watches, triggered when sustained high winds and dry weather are expected to create extreme fire danger. Another 11 million were under red flag warnings, which warn of imminent critical fire weather, according to the agency.
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