[quote]Firefighting crews battled triple-digit heat, dry winds and multiple wildfires Saturday that scorched dozens of homes and miles of dry grassland near Oklahoma City and Tulsa, officials said. Some of the fires, but not all, were under control Saturday.Columns of smoke blackened the sky and threatened grasslands that have become tinder in the [URL="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drought-relief-20120803,0,3670147.story"]most severe drought[/URL] the United States has seen since 1956. Hundreds of people in four counties evacuated Friday. Authorities closed two state highways and parts of Interstate 44 – the freeway that cuts between Oklahoma City and Tulsa – for several hours Friday night.
Oklahoma Gov. [URL="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/mary-fallin-PEPLT00007689.topic"]Mary Fallin[/URL] toured Luther, Okla., a small town north of Oklahoma City, on Saturday morning, calling the fire and its damage “heartbreaking.”
[B][URL="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-drought-in-the-midwest-photos20120716,0,7252689.photogallery"]Photos: Drought in the Midwest[/URL][/B]
Officials estimate 47 homes and other buildings were damaged in the flames near Luther, where about 4 square miles were burned.
About 40 more buildings and 78 square miles were destroyed in a fire in Mannford, near Tulsa, that was not under control Saturday afternoon. And another fire that started near Noble, Okla., and moved south toward the University of Oklahoma in Norman destroyed at least 25 buildings, some of them homes.
The fire near Luther was started by an arsonist, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department said. Deputies searched Saturday for a man in a black Ford F150 pickup who witnesses said set a newspaper on fire and tossed it out his window into a field, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Mark Myers told the Los Angeles Times.
“The fire is out,” Myers said. “Now we have to find him.”
Officials have said this could be the worst fire season in Oklahoma history.
Drought conditions that have stretched on in Oklahoma for months worsened the effects of the fire, Myers said. In bone-dry months, sparse vegetation became tinder. Central Oklahoma usually gets four times as much rain in July as they did this year, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.
The temperature in Luther hovered at 113 degrees Friday when the fire reportedly started about 4 p.m. Firefighters took frequent breaks from the front lines of the fire, where temperatures were even higher, said Forrest Mitchell, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Noble, in an interview with The Times.
“It was basically like standing in front of a blowdryer while you’re trying to do your job,” Myers said. “Everyone is exhausted.”
Relief, of sorts, is on the way. The temperature Saturday was not expected to rise much above 100 degrees.
“After you’re at 113 degrees, that’s quite a drop,” Mitchell said.
The NWS office is about 15 miles from the fire. The meteorologists there couldn’t see the flames, but they could see – and taste – the khaki columns of smoke rising from the fields.[/quote]
[URL]http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-oklahoma-wildfires-08042012,0,5294658.story[/URL]
[quote]Hundreds of people were told Friday to leave their homes in at least four counties, while smoke and flames prompted authorities to close parts of Interstate 44, the main roadway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and two state highways. I-44 reopened late Friday night."A man refused to leave. From what I know, he wanted to protect his property, but your life has to be more valuable than property," Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel said late Friday night.
[B]STORY: [URL="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-08-03/oklahoma-wildfires/56765634/1"]Western fires still rage[/URL][/B]
The sheriff said at least 25 homes, a daycare center and numerous outbuildings had burned in a fire that may have been deliberately set near Luther, a town about 20 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.
Deputies were looking into reports about someone in a pickup truck who was seen throwing out newspapers that had been set on fire. By Friday night, the blaze had spread across 80 square miles, but officials said it had calmed some due to lighter winds and higher humidity.
About 40 structures were destroyed by a blaze near Tulsa. And yet another blaze destroyed at least 25 structures, including a handful of homes, after starting near Noble, about 30 miles south of Oklahoma City, and moving toward Norman, home to the [URL="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Organizations/Schools/University+of+Oklahoma"]University of Oklahoma[/URL].
Steve Palladino, operations chief for the [URL="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Oklahoma+Department+of+Emergency+Management"]Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management[/URL], said six [URL="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Oklahoma+National+Guard"]Oklahoma National Guard[/URL] helicopters will be dispatched to the fires on Saturday. Palladino said three were sent out on Friday.
"I loaded the kids up, grabbed my dogs, and it didn't even look like I had time to load the livestock, so I just got out of there," said Bo Ireland, who lives a few miles from where the Noble-area fire started. "It looked to me that, if the wind shifted even a little bit, I would be in the path of that fire. It was just too close."
There were no immediate reports of injuries or livestock losses.
Dayle Bishop said he may not have made it out of his home had a woman not knocked on his door and woken him up. Standing in a convenience store parking lot about 2 miles away from his home, he was pessimistic about its chances.
"I know it's gone," said Bishop, who works nights as a nurse. "Didn't even have time to get anything out." But he noted, "it's just stuff."
Charles Wright was with his daughter, Christina, along with their cat, at a makeshift evacuation center doubling as a staging area for fire engines, ambulances and other emergency equipment. He said law enforcement ordered them to leave their home in Norman.
"Praying for miracles. Praying for the best, that's all we can do," said Wright, who managed to pack some clothes, jewelry and legal papers before fleeing.
Ruth Hood splashed water onto two Chihuahua puppies that she grabbed along with several other animals and her children, and left as flames burned in her neighbor's yard. She said she couldn't be sure her home would survive.
"No guarantee," Hood said.
With the ongoing drought, high temperatures and gusty winds, it took little for fires to begin and spread — and there was little crews could do to fight them.
"It's difficult for the firefighters to get into the area because it's heavily wooded on either side of the smaller roads. When the winds are blowing 25 mph it just blows the embers and fireballs across the roads as if they weren't even there," said Jerry Lojka with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
At mid-afternoon Friday, the temperature in Norman hit 113 degrees, and winds were gusting at 24 mph. "I can tell you the temperatures and the wind are not helping the situation at all," said Meghan McCormick, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland County Sheriff's office.
[URL="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Russell+Moore"]Russell Moore[/URL], 53, who lives in the Noble area, said he was outside in his yard when a sheriff's deputy drove down the road and told people to leave. He and his son went to a shelter set up at Noble City Hall.
"About all we saw was smoke and a little bit of ash raining down from the sky," Moore said. "Everybody was piling into their vehicles and leaving as we were."
The state was monitoring 11 fires by Friday afternoon. Gov. [URL="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Mary+Fallin"]Mary Fallin[/URL] announced a statewide burn ban as the fire danger heightened. She previously had announced a state of emergency for all 77 counties due to the extreme drought.[/quote]
[URL]http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-08-04/Oklahoma-wildfires/56767932/1[/URL]
Its fucking 110 degrees here in Sapulpa atm, but there is so much fucking smoke rising in the distance it looks like a god damn storm cloud. So far a shitload of places have been evacuated, Tulsa is getting a little bit of ashfall at the moment, and I hope my flight to Hawaii isn't delayed.
There are a bunch of other stories on it as well.
[IMG]http://puu.sh/ODuZ[/IMG]
[IMG]http://puu.sh/ODvn[/IMG]
Never seen that much smoke before.
I don't remember the last time it rained.
i saw 112 degree temperatures on the weather channel yesterday
r.i.p oklahoma
Here in Ohio we're supposed to be getting a lot of rain.
Wish I could take some and send it that direction...
It's only a matter of time before Cali gets it's fair share.
[QUOTE=SuperDuperScoot;37081969]Here in Ohio we're supposed to be getting a lot of rain.
Wish I could take some and send it that direction...[/QUOTE]
If only. It hasn't rained in more than a month here.
Ah fuck, its less than 10 miles away.
There have been a ton of fires pretty close to my house.
I think it's about time for me to pack up and move somewhere else before the entire state burns down.
[QUOTE=borellus12;37083119]There have been a ton of fires pretty close to my house.
I think it's about time for me to pack up and move somewhere else before the entire state burns down.[/QUOTE]
Come to Minnesota. Its actually really great up here (minus the sports)
It's rained almost exactly once every three days here in California. For the entire summer.
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