There are wildfires in various places around my region of Oklahoma. My county has issued evacuation orders for an area about 10 miles from here. I can smell the smoke. It’s pretty bad. We’re also under severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch. I’m hearing sirens pretty constantly.
Wow. Hope they get it reined in. On Friday, in the middle of evening shopper madness, 3 historic buildings on Main St. in Annapolis succumbed to an electrical fire which my friend, 2 streets over, completely slept through despite the presence of 5 fire stations and a crew of 75 firefighters.
- Edited out double posting.
I just drove through town. The electric power is out in part of it.
The problem, from McAlester, all the way up to the Kansas state line is that there are fires (including at the edge of the Tulsa metropolitan area) being spread by winds as high as 70 M.P.H.
The winds are lessening, and so far, most houses have been saved.
Goodness, that sounds like a nightmare. It seems a strange time of year for fires, I’m not sure why. I guess it has been awfully dry in a lot of places. Hope the wind stays died down.
Being late autumn, much of the grass and brush is dead, and there are massive amounts of dry leaves lying around. Given strong dry winds, it can be disastrous.
Man, Walden, hope you stay safe!
Are the fires lightning caused? Our fire season is usually late August to early September.
I don’t know which would be worse - staying put in a fire, or evacuating and going outside during a severe thunderstorm with a chance of tornadoes!
My understanding is that they are ascribing it to the dam authority which has a power plant in that area. Despite the storm warning issued, I’ve seen no sign of one, other than the severe winds.
The Red Cross are here, giving assistance.
40,000 homes are without power, in Eastern Oklahoma.
I just got in from going out and looking at the fires. They are still burning within about 2 miles from my house, with emergency crews still being called in. A trailer park where I’d lived as a small child had caught fire, but it appears they were extinguished before any trailers, themselves caught fire. The lawn was quite charred.
The fires farther south, so far as I could tell, have ended. The emergency shelter has emptied, other than one person who chose to spend the rest of the night.
Several buildings and homes have been destroyed or damaged. The weather forecast calls for strong winds (but not as high as yesterday’s) and high fire danger.