While dozens of wildfires were fought across Oklahoma on Monday and Tuesday as dangerous 40 mph and 50 mph winds stoked them, they were small compared to the massive wildfire burning in the Texas Panhandle.
An estimated 100,000 acres were burned in wildfires in Oklahoma and three firefighters injured according to News 9 TV news.
Smoke from what is called the Smokehouse Creek Fire forced temporary shutdown of Interstate 40 in the Panhandle as the fire exploded to 500,000 acres since Monday afternoon. Putting it into perspective, that is nearly 781 square miles of land. Consider this…Oklahoma City is 621 square miles.
Reports suggest firefighters have not been able to get any portion of it undercontrol. It remained zero percent as of late Monday according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
Located northeast of Amarillo, the fire prompted evacuations of parts of Hemphill and Roberts counties. The evacuation order included the town of Canadian, Texas. Parts of the town of Fritch were also included.
The fires even resulted in the shut down of the Pantex site which is the main operation that assembles and disassembles the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
“We have evacuated our personnel, non-essential personnel from the site, just in an abundance of caution,” Laef Pendergraft, a spokesperson for National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office at Pantex, said during a news conference according to the Associated Press.
“But we do have a well-equipped fire department that has trained for these scenarios, that is on-site and watching and ready should any kind of real emergency arise on the plant site.”
The late Tuesday cold front that brought temperatures back into the upper 20s in Oklahoma was expected to result in lower winds, perhaps granting some relief for hundreds of firefighters working on the giant blaze.
One airliner passenger on his way to Houston was stunned from what he saw above the giant stretch of wildfires in the Panhandle.
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Here is a list of the wildfires in Oklahoma.
NE Area – 12 Fires Burned 1,200.6 Acres (Cause: 3-Escaped Controlled Burn, 1-Escaped Debris, 1-Equipment, 7-Incendiary)
EC Area – 1 Fire Burned 400 Acres (Cause: 1-Incendiary)
SE Area – 1 Fires Burned 50 Acres (Cause: 1-Incendiary)
Large / Significant Fire Activity within the OFS Protection Area:
• Bobcat Ridge 2 Fire (Latimer County) – 400 Acres / 50% Contained
• Hicks Branch Fire (Cherokee County) – 575 Acres / 50% Contained
• Circle Drive Fire (Cherokee County) – 273 Acres / 60% Contained
• The Lost Fire (Adair County) – 114 Acres / 75% Contained
• JBAR Fire (Delaware County) – 200 Acres / 70% Contained
• Sellers North Fire (Cherokee County) – 250 Acres / 60% Contained
• Lee Creek Fire (Adair County) – 217 Acres / 50% Contained
• Boiling Springs East Fire (Latimer County) – 500 acres / 60% Contained
• Studebaker Fire (Latimer County) – 187 Acres / 75% Contained
• Nature Fire (Cherokee County) – 3,750 Acres / 65% Contained
• North 4240 Rd. Fire (Choctaw County) – 215 Acres / 35% Contained
• Soap Mountain Fire (Adair County) – 227 Acres / 95% Contained
• Red Oak Mountain Fire (Latimer County) – 799 Acres / 85% Contained
• Clearfork Fire (Adair County) – 210 Acres / 95% Contained
• Pine Ridge Fire (Adair County) – 130 Acres / 95% Contained
• Rock Station Fire (Latimer County) – 390 Acres / 85% Contained
• Possum Hollow Fire (Atoka County) – 507 Acres / 35% Contained
• 5 Mile Hollow Fire (Delaware County) – 300 Acres / 90% Contained
• McNally Corner Fire (Pittsburg County) – 158 Acres / 50% Contained
• 4490 Road Fire (Sequoyah County) – 126 Acres / 85% Contained
• Bobcat Ridge Fire (Latimer County) – 535 Acres / 95% Contained
Fire Activity with OFS Response outside of the Protection Area: 7 Fires Burned 115,635 Acres
• Catesby Fire (Ellis County) – 30,000 Acres Est. / 0% Contained
• Slapout Fire (Beaver County) – 76,800 Acres Est. / 0% Contained
• E1980 Rd Fire (Choctaw County) – 5,535 Acres / 40% Contained
• Marsh Fire (Dewey County) – 550 Acres / 75% Contained
• Sand Creek Fire (Harper County) – 2,385 Acres / 75% Contained
• Copenhaver Fire (Woods County) – 500 Acres / 80% Contained
• Smokehouse Road Fire (Texas A&M Forest Service) – 250,000+ Acres / 0% Contained
OFS Prescribed Fire Activity: No New Activity
Fire Department Activity: