By Murray Evans
The Associated Press
HARRAH, Okla. — Wind-driven grass fires burned dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of hundreds more in the parched suburbs of Oklahoma City on Friday, chasing students from two schools, threatening a casino and nursing home and causing some minor smoke-related injuries.
The largest blazes were south and east of the state capital, where winds gusts of over 40 mph were recorded Friday and temperatures were unseasonably high. Like much of the state, the affected areas have been in a prolonged drought.
A fire in and around Harrah, about 20 miles east of downtown Oklahoma City, forced the evacuation of two schools and a nursing home, authorities said. A fire near Norman, 20 miles south of the state capital, was threatening a casino and surrounding neighborhood.
“The smoke is really thick, and I’m starting to see embers flying through the air, which is starting to concern me,” said Tom Thompson, who was loading family pictures and other valuables into his car from his home in the Crystal Lakes neighborhood near the Riverwind Casino near Norman. “We’ve got all the sprinklers on, and if it gets much thicker, we’ll go ahead and get out of here.”
One of the larger fires burned at Harrah, where dozens of homes had burned to various degrees, said Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Myers.
Sheriff’s deputies were going door-to-door asking neighborhood residents to flee the blaze, which had charred about 1,500 acres, or 2.3 square miles, by Friday afternoon. Firefighters from several towns worked to douse the flames.
“The casino is not in any danger now; there’s still a lot of space in between the flames and Riverwind,” said emergency management director Greg Giltner. “By the time we knock the fires down, though, more hotspots pop up.”
Giltner said people should leave until the fires could be contained, and that a number of those who set out to water their lawns to help defeat the flames suffered minor smoke inhalation and needed oxygen.
In Harrah, district officials sent high school students were sent home early Friday, and Harrah Junior High School students were moved to an elementary school, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Myers said. He said 160 residents were evacuated from a nursing home, including 20 who had to be transported by ambulance. Some roads were closed because the billowing gray smoke sharply reduced visibility in the communities.
Billie Hicks, 54, fled with his wife and five children when their neighbor’s home in Harrah began to burn. He said he was pretty sure his family’s home would burn as well, and that it would be the second time in a year since they lost a house. Their previous home was destroyed by a tornado last May.
“We thought this was going to be a better year,” he said, wryly.
“With the tornado we were able to salvage some things, with the fire there is nothing left,” he said.
His wife, Dana, said she was worried.
“We just hope the insurance agent doesn’t cancel us after this,” she said.
With much of the state in drought and relatively high recent temperatures, forestry officials and the National Weather Service had been warning of the threat of grass fires. The weather service issued a red flag warning, indicating a fire threat, for much of western and central Oklahoma until sunset.
Winds at mid-afternoon at Oklahoma City were blowing from the south at 28 mph, with gusts to 41 mph. Temperatures were in the upper 70s, 10 or so degrees higher than normal.
The Oklahoma County Emergency Management agency directed residents to leave a 2-square-mile area west of Harrah and a square-mile area east of Midwest City because of the threat.
Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman with the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said other fires have been reported near Duncan in southwestern Oklahoma and near Stroud, about 50 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.
The state hasn’t been asked to provide any assistance, but Oklahoma National Guard helicopters are on standby, Ooten said.