Oklahoma Wildfires, April 12, 2018
Historic wildfires have burned well over 200,000 acres of land across western Oklahoma since April 12th. On that day, ongoing drought conditions combined with hot, dry and very windy weather promoted the rapid ignition and spread of wildfires. Fires are not uncommon at all in Oklahoma in early spring, but this fire was particularly historic, due to the large amount of land burned.
On April 12th, I observed several, relatively small wildfires in the Texas panhandle, but went to Dewey County in northwestern Oklahoma that night to document a much larger set of fires. The footage seen above is shot near Taloga, which was among the hardest hit areas in Dewey County.
The threat of wildfires will dramatically increase tomorrow, as another hot/dry/windy air-mass impacts the area. Later this week, a storm system is expected to bring rain to a large portion of the southern Plains, which should gradually help ease both the drought and wildfire concerns.
