Wind-fueled wildfire destroys structures in Oklahoma
By
Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Mar 8, 2020 6:10 PM EST
On March 7, people in Beaver County, Oklahoma, were forced to evacuate their homes due to a large wildfire erupting, being fueled by the wind.
Residents in Beaver and Forgan, Oklahoma were urged to evacuate when a quick-moving wildfire ignited on Saturday.
The National Weather Service in Amarillo detected a hot spot around 10 a.m., Saturday on fire temperature satellite imagery, and tweeted it asking people to avoid the area.
“The town of Beaver is being evacuated at this time. The fire has reached the SW edge of town. Structures are on fire and the [high school] football field has burned. Fire Departments from Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas are on scene,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Cody Rehder said in a tweet on Saturday.
Strong winds quickly fanned the flames of the fire toward Forgan, Oklahoma.
“Oklahoma Emergency Management is conducting damage assessment. Crews continue to improve control lines, mopping up and suppressing hot spots,” the Oklahoma Forestry Services reported on their Facebook Page on Sunday. The fire is currently 50% contained, accounting for 29,120 acres.
The fire was “under control” as of 4 a.m., Sunday, Meade County Kansas Emergency Management (MCEM) reported.
“Many weather stations surrounding the area, from the northern Texas Panhandle, across the Oklahoma panhandle and into southwest Kansas, began reporting wind gusts of 25-35 mph during the late-morning hours,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda said.
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These continued to increase into the early afternoon hours on Saturday, according to Sojda, peaking around 40-45 mph during the early afternoon before gradually subsiding into the evening
“Temperatures in the low 70s and dew points in the low 30s led to very low relative humidity. Add in the ample dry grasses and brush from the winter and gusty winds this led to very favorable conditions for a rapidly spreading fire,” Sojda said.
“Nearby Guymon, Oklahoma hadn’t reported measurable rainfall since Feb. 23 and 24, and even then it was only a partly 0.07 and 0.06 of an inch each day respectively. Not much in terms of helping alleviate dry ground and fuels,” Sojda said.
During the entire month of February, Guymon only recorded 0.30 of an inch of rainfall, Sojda reports. Late winter and early spring are usually the time of year when the central and eastern U.S. are most prone to fire weather conditions.
“As warm and breezy spells become more common, dry air and vegetation still in place from the winter coupled with the changing weather patterns to create conditions favorable for any fires that start to spread rapidly,” Sojda said.
Many local agencies have controlled burns this time of the year to responsibly burn off the dead vegetation to try to prevent more dangerous out of control fires. The fire risk typically begins to diminish heading later into spring as vegetation comes back to life and humidity levels become higher.
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News / Weather News
Wind-fueled wildfire destroys structures in Oklahoma
By Chaffin Mitchell, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Mar 8, 2020 6:10 PM EST
On March 7, people in Beaver County, Oklahoma, were forced to evacuate their homes due to a large wildfire erupting, being fueled by the wind.
Residents in Beaver and Forgan, Oklahoma were urged to evacuate when a quick-moving wildfire ignited on Saturday.
The National Weather Service in Amarillo detected a hot spot around 10 a.m., Saturday on fire temperature satellite imagery, and tweeted it asking people to avoid the area.
“The town of Beaver is being evacuated at this time. The fire has reached the SW edge of town. Structures are on fire and the [high school] football field has burned. Fire Departments from Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas are on scene,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Cody Rehder said in a tweet on Saturday.
Strong winds quickly fanned the flames of the fire toward Forgan, Oklahoma.
“Oklahoma Emergency Management is conducting damage assessment. Crews continue to improve control lines, mopping up and suppressing hot spots,” the Oklahoma Forestry Services reported on their Facebook Page on Sunday. The fire is currently 50% contained, accounting for 29,120 acres.
The fire was “under control” as of 4 a.m., Sunday, Meade County Kansas Emergency Management (MCEM) reported.
“Many weather stations surrounding the area, from the northern Texas Panhandle, across the Oklahoma panhandle and into southwest Kansas, began reporting wind gusts of 25-35 mph during the late-morning hours,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
These continued to increase into the early afternoon hours on Saturday, according to Sojda, peaking around 40-45 mph during the early afternoon before gradually subsiding into the evening
“Temperatures in the low 70s and dew points in the low 30s led to very low relative humidity. Add in the ample dry grasses and brush from the winter and gusty winds this led to very favorable conditions for a rapidly spreading fire,” Sojda said.
“Nearby Guymon, Oklahoma hadn’t reported measurable rainfall since Feb. 23 and 24, and even then it was only a partly 0.07 and 0.06 of an inch each day respectively. Not much in terms of helping alleviate dry ground and fuels,” Sojda said.
During the entire month of February, Guymon only recorded 0.30 of an inch of rainfall, Sojda reports. Late winter and early spring are usually the time of year when the central and eastern U.S. are most prone to fire weather conditions.
“As warm and breezy spells become more common, dry air and vegetation still in place from the winter coupled with the changing weather patterns to create conditions favorable for any fires that start to spread rapidly,” Sojda said.
Many local agencies have controlled burns this time of the year to responsibly burn off the dead vegetation to try to prevent more dangerous out of control fires. The fire risk typically begins to diminish heading later into spring as vegetation comes back to life and humidity levels become higher.
Related:
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