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Kansas and Oklahoma fires spread, smoke blankets Wichita: Maps, evacuation updates, and videos
A wildfire in the vicinity of Woodward, Oklahoma, is spreading rapidly. Evacuations have been ordered in Kansas too, amid the Ranger Road fire.
A new wildfire that has broken out in the vicinity of Woodward, Oklahoma, is spreading rapidly. Officials have issued mandatory evacuation orders for parts of the city, according to Fox Weather.
Evacuations have been ordered in Kansas too, as the Ranger Road Fire burned more than 15,000 acres Tuesday, February 17. This came amid warnings of critical to extremely critical fire weather across the central and southern Plains.
Meanwhile, residents in Wichita have taken to social media to report that they are seeing massive smoke from the fire. A Facebook user wrote, sharing a photo of smoke blanketing the sky, “Hey Wichita….those are not clouds…that’s smoke coming from a MASSIVE fire in southwest Kansas/Oklahoma panhandle. It stopped at the road right before the town my parents and other family member live and the wind shifted! Thank God!”
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The user added, “My family is safe for the moment but the fires can quickly change so praying the wind dies down as the sun goes down and they can get it under control and put out! My dad is fighting it currently and my brother is patrolling for the county and evacuating homes in the path! This is pretty serious and unfortunately we’ve been here before in 2017 so this is definitely scary and not taken lightly!”
Evacuations were issued for the southwest portion of Woodward, near 13th Street and Oklahoma Avenue south and west on Tuesday, per the Woodward County emergency manager. A fire warning was issued in Beaver County in the Oklahoma Panhandle too, with a wildfire near Firgan shutting down part of a highway and spreading into Kansas, according to Koco News 5.
What we know about the fires
Besides Woodward, several Kansas towns, including Englewood, Herndon and Ashland, were also evacuated with another fire approaching the Kansas state line.
The National Weather Services Amarillo, Texas, the Ranger Road Fire is approximately 145,000 acres. It is spreading rapidly. A Fire Warning remained in effect through 8:30 pm CST.
Local fire departments, county resources and several state agencies are assisting, with the wildfire crossing over into Texas. "Aviation resources were requested. However, wind speeds and gust spread prohibit aviation operations over the fire at the time," Oklahoma Forestry Services said. "Gusts over 65 mph have been observed."
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The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported that US 64 East of Forgan was shut down amid the rapidly spreading wildfire. Meanwhile, officials in Kansas closed 1-70 due to powerful blowing dust reducing visibility. The Kansas Department of Transportation also closed U.S. Highway 50 near Garden City as high winds and hazardous blowing dust led to several car crashes.
Many fires have erupted in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas amid warm temperatures and wind gusts of over 70 mph, as well as an extremely dry landscape.
Photos and videos surface
Photos and videos of the fires have surfaced on X. Take a look:
According to KOCO 5 Meteorologist Joseph Neubauer, fire danger is expected to continue throughout the week, expanding to Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma City metro down to Chickasha, Norman and Altus is under a red flag warning, as is all of western Oklahoma from 10 am to 8 pm Wednesday, February 18. Northern Oklahoma, including Perry and Ponca City, will be under red flag warnings too on Wednesday.
Parts of southern and northeast Oklahoma are also expected to see a risk for wildfires. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service has issued a fire watch for most of the state on Thursday, February 19.
