Oklahoma Wildfires Explode in Size, Force Hundreds to Evacuate

Officials Order Evacuations in Oklahoma Wildfire Zone

Wind-driven wildfires were sparked in multiple areas of Oklahoma on Thursday, and those fires burned overnight.
Authorities ordered evacuations for hundreds of residents as the flames advanced.
A hunter was found Friday morning after being reported missing in Woodward County, Oklahoma, in one of the largest fires.

Authorities dispatched firefighting crews to battle several blazes in Oklahoma, and entire towns were evacuated as the wildfires advanced rapidly.

Several homes were destroyed near Woodward, Woodward County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbaur told the Associated Press. Some 450 people have been evacuated from their Woodward County homes, Lehenbaur also said.

The fires were responsible for claiming more than 210 square miles of land on Thursday, according to the Oklahoman, and those conflagrations continued to grow Friday, exceeding 300 square miles destroyed. With fire danger expected to remain high on Friday, officials urged residents to take all evacuation orders seriously and avoid burning.

"Unfortunately, Mother Nature's not throwing us any good pitches so we're having to deal with what she sends us, which is unfortunately not going to be any real recovery time in the overnight hours," Guthrie Fire Department Chief Eric Harlow told Fox Oklahoma City. "Usually the humidity will come back up, but unfortunately it looks like we're in for another couple days of the same conditions."

(FORECAST: Critical Fire Weather Conditions in Southwest and Southern Rockies)

The largest group of fires, named the 34 Complex Fire, burned more than 187 square miles by Friday morning in northwestern Oklahoma's Woodward County, the Oklahoman also said.

Late Thursday afternoon, authorities ordered an evacuation in Woodward County in northwest Oklahoma, according to the Woodward News. That was due to a pair of large fires, one of which was apparently started by a downed power line. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol subsequently shut down State Highway 34.

Fire destroyed two barns and a home after downed power lines ignited a cotton gin in Dill City, KWTV reported.

Evacuations were ordered Thursday night for the small town of Mutual, Oklahoma, located in Woodward County. According to reports, a wildfire was rapidly moving northward about two miles south of the town of less than 100.

The wildfires encroached upon the Oklahoma City metro area, as KWTV reported a wildfire in the far northwestern suburbs.

A large inferno in western Oklahoma, dubbed the Rhea Fire, burned more than 128 square miles in Dewey County and is 0 percent contained, Oklahoma Forestry Services spokeswoman Michelle-Finch Walker told the AP.

Authorities searched for a missing hunter who was with two other people when he or she vanished in the smoke-filled area, according to KFOR.com. The hunter was found Friday morning and transported to a local hospital, the Dewey County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.

The Rhea Fire has destroyed one home, the report added.

"Critical or extremely critical fire weather conditions are possible again Friday in southwestern and central Oklahoma, western Texas, southern New Mexico and southern Arizona," said weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan.

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