Wind-whipped Oklahoma wildfires destroy homes

From left, Gayland Cannon, Eugene Hacker and Ron Ross wait at a gas station at SE108 and Hwy 9 after evacuating their homes in the area of SE 132nd and Cedar Lane as a wildfire burns through Cleveland County near Norman, Okla., Aug. 3, 2012. / AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Nate Billings

(AP) NOBLE, Okla. - A wildfire whipped by gusty, southerly winds swept through rural woodlands south of the Oklahoma City area Friday, burning several homes as firefighters struggled to contain it in 113-degree heat.

Oklahoma's emergency management officials said 25 structures had burned east of Noble, including a handful of homes. The sheriff's office directed residents of 75 to 100 houses to leave the area as flames spread through treetops. The evacuation area, south of Lake Thunderbird, is about 30 square miles.

The state Highway Patrol closed part of the main highway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa because of a fire that may have been deliberately set. Local deputies were looking into reports about passengers in a pickup truck who were seen throwing out newspapers that had been set on fire.

"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 from the fires, which also charred the earth near Geary and Luther.

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 at nearby Norman was 113. Winds were from the south and southwest at 14 mph, gusting to 24 mph.

"I can tell you the temperatures and the wind are not helping the situation at all. Some homes have been lost in the fire unfortunately, but we don't know how many," said Meghan McCormick, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland County Sheriff's office.

Russell Moore, 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, but planned to go to his daughter's home in Norman.

"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."

Lojka said an Oklahoma National Guard helicopter has been dispatched to a fast-moving blaze in Luther, northeast of Oklahoma City. He also said helicopters were helping ground crews with a fire near Mannford and Drumright in Creek County. Helicopters from the National Guard and the Bureau of Indian Affairs were fighting a fire in Creek County.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office said it was investigating reports that someone in a black pickup truck near Luther was tossing out newspapers that had been set on fire. The blaze and smoke led the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to shut down part of the Turner Turnpike, which carries Interstate 44 between Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Traffic was rerouted onto old U.S. Route 66, the famed two-lane highway that crisscrosses Oklahoma.

The state was monitoring 11 fires in all Friday afternoon. Gov. Mary Fallin 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.

[dragonlady35]

I Think That people that talk like that are raciest and have no morrals the one thing i can say is that atleast i know in Oklahoma in time of need Oklahomans help other Oklahomans can u say that about any where else

[ladyang]

Ignorance is in great supply in OK. I hope the folks on Tinker and Altus AFBs are ok. The rest of the state, well I hope it burns and burns and burns and burns!

[stoltz61]

You must be from OK. You are showing your ignorance greatly.

[Raptorsmasher]

Ignorance is no reason to wish ill on your fellow countrymen.

[esq777]

We just need to the lead of the climate change-denier Rick Perry and pray for rain.

[Raptorsmasher]

Unfortunately, this is Oaklahoma's new normal. It's going to be a rough road ahead. Good Luck.

[jmn122736]

It is very sad that so many people use a tragedy like this to spout insulting, religious or partisan comments.

Such comments do nothing but highlight the character and integrity of the poster and lessen respect for their cause, and most shamefully, adds to the pain and suffering of innocent victims.

Oklahoma is particularly vulnerable to droughts. The great depression and the dust bowl days occurred in the 1930's when so many people from Oklahoma left their homes and moved to California to escape the drought and find work, such as on farms and grape vineyards.

I lived in California for a couple of years in the early 60's, and that is where I first heard the term "Okie", a term that was still commonly being used to describe Oklahomans, not unlike how the "N" word was used.

I believe that widely-used term inspired the famous Merle Haggard song "Okie from Muskogee", that it was written in defense of those Oklahoma settlers.

lyrics From the internet:

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take our trips on LSD
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street;
We like livin' right, and bein' free.

I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all

We don't make a party out of lovin';
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo;
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.

And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all.

Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.
Football's still the roughest thing on campus,
And the kids here still respect the college dean.

We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.

[tvwatcher5345]

i like watching to see how long republicans can deny global warming in the face of evidence piling up to the contrary

[Transatlantique]

Mary Mary quite contrary Fallin should have announced a burn ban long before today. However, the rednecks in the black truck throwing burning newspaper out of the window sounds so typical of Oklahoma. For some reason there are pockets of people raised there to not give a damn about anything but the cartoons playing permanently in what is left of their undereducated and quite bored minds. The same can be said for other states in that area of the country. Oklahoma ranked almost last in education and health care and one can only ask "why?" The ignorance that is prominent there breeds the kind of people that will throw burning paper out of a moving vehicle on a scorchingly hot day.

[1American]

"They" were not rednecks that set the fires, they were "transplants" and they better hope the real Okie Rednecks (who were helping fight the fires) don't catch them before the law does.
As for Oklahoma ranking last in healthcare and education, Integris Baptist Medical Center is ranked No. 1 in the state on U.S. News & World Report's annual Best Hospitals list. The hospital, was labeled high-performing in nine areas: cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology; geriatrics; nephrology; orthopedics; pulmonology; and urology. It's a well known fact that many from foreign nations come to Oklahoma for their heart surgery instead using their "Government Controlled Healthcare". As for Education, at least most of Oklahoma's highschool grads can make change at the markets without counting their fingers.

[jmn122736]

answering insults with insults leaves both parties in the same gutter.

[tvwatcher5345]

God's judgement on james inhofe for not using the brain the Good Lord gave him