when i walked out back this morning, i could already smell a grass fire from somewhere on the wind.

please be careful and safe.

dody

A large wildfire is burning southwest of Altus.

The Panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma along with parts of SE CO and SW KS have been ablaze yesterday and today. A fire burned all day around Guymon. I passed just north of it coming home this evening. It was maybe 6-7 miles south of me and about that north of Guymon it looked like. The OK Highway patrol had the south bound highway closed at a intersection straight north of Guymon. They were asking farmers with large tractors and equipment to help plow ahead of it so they could gain control. I watched a fire west of me all the way to Elkhart. It was NE of Boise City it appeared. There were numerous others. We had constant winds of 35-40 with gusts over 50. The wind has died down some now. Many don't realize how dry and dangerous and spark it right now. My thoughts and prayers are with all those who are fighting them. Now it is on a daily basis and sometimes all night. This morning on the radio station I listen to a fire chief said they got a fire out late last night and got called to another one around 3 am and were still fighting it. Jay

Jay,

I thought of you today when I heard about the Guymon fire. The said at that point it was 12 miles long and that some firefighters from Beaver County were on their way to help, but that firefighters in both Kansas and Texas were busy with their own fires and couldn't come help with Guymon's. It sounds like it must have been a really rough couple of days out there.

We have a burn ban here and I think it helped a lot. I only heard of one local fire here today, and it was early in the morning. Someone, who said he wasn't aware there was a burn ban, thought he'd have a "controlled burn" today, but the law enforcement officer who stopped by to talk to him persuaded him that he wasn't going to do any burning today after all. At that time, we already had wind gusting into the 30s. Who in the world thinks they can do a controlled burn with wind in the 30s?

I hope the firefighters up there all stayed safe today and I hope they get some relief from the fires. Real relief involves rainfall though, and that doesn't seem likely any time soon.

Dawn

The Guymon fire is now under control. Report is that two homes were lost. Wind is finally down but supposed to be back from the North tomorrow. Hopefully, the hot spots will be out by then.

I have not been on here in a long time. Busy, busy. I have a son and DIL in Japan. That has been big concern lately. They are alright but receiving some radiation and watching efforts at nuke plant carefully.

It is hard to get very excited about a garden when we are so dry. The water bill will probably limit what I plant.
Jan

Just talked to my sister and BIL and they said it started just west of their ranch and traveled east just north of their fence.

Jan when I passed by the intersection the radio had just announced the fire as being out and they were just watching hot spots. But I could still see the fire south of me. And according to what I was told the officer was saying it was under control but still burning. The wind had died shortly before so sure that helped. I may be cutting back some. But not so much because of the drought as after 3 straight years I'm getting adjusted to that. Most everyone around here got a break last year except for us. The reason I may cut back some is I will be driving to east of Forgan 8 miles to work probably all summer. The last I heard was 6-12 months. So driving over 3 hours a day limits the time I have when I get home. Hope we all get rain soon. If not the fires may get worse. Jay

Jan,

I was wondering where you'd been. I thought maybe you'd retired and gone on a trip around the world. I had forgotten your DS and DDIL were in Japan. I am relieved to hear they are safe, and am sure they must be concerned about the nuclear issues.

I was kind of figuring the drought was cutting into your gardening plans if you weren't retired and traveling around the world.....

I've scaled back my plans considerably because of the drought and the early arrival of ridiculous amounts of heat, and have absolutely no expectations that I'll have a garden all summer long this year. I think we'll be lucky here to keep the garden going until June, and even that will give us a water bill that will give my DH a headache when he sees it.

It's nice to see you here. I hope the fire situation is calmer tomorrow, and of course, rainfall would be nice for you and all the rest of us too. Our local TV guy sees a glimmer of hope for some rainfall next week, but I'm not going to hold my breath and wait for it to happen.

Dawn

No Dawn, no world trips. Not sure there is much of anywhere in the world where I would want to travel right now. I would like to have my son and wife travel home and get out of the radiation. The government assures them they are safe but I have a hard time believing everything they say.

Our wheat is suffering from the drought and some is already dead with more looking like it won't last much longer. Today was at least a much calmer day but tomorrow is supposed to be very windy again. We have a slight chance of moisture for next week but I have seen this for several weeks and then nothing happens. My husband always tells me: "We are one day closer to a rain."

Jan

Jan I know you are very concerned for your son and DIL. I pray for them and everyone in Japan.

Yes today is supposed to be another windy one. My BIL has ground blowing now where he never received enough moisture to germinate the wheat seed. He has a crew moving in today to work it. Had to get a release first. They say a farmer lost his big tractor and disc while trying to make a fire guard on a fire Tuesday. The fire was moving so fast it got to him before he realized it I understand. One forecaster I heard said it might not be as bad today. Hopefully we can avoid anymore fires today. And hoping we get at least some rain next week. It is dire here for us. As bad if not worse than 2-3 years ago. The only thing here is our grass is short after the last 2-3 years so not the fuel source areas around us have where they received rain last summer. Jay

Jan,

I'm inclined to agree with you that, especially with all that's going on in the world, there's no place like home right now....even if home is droughty and dry and on fire.

I am sure I would feel exactly the same way you do if I had loved ones in Japan. I'd want them on the next plane home. I find it hard to trust the Japanese government (with all due respect to the Japanese people themselves who are such honarable, classy people) on the radiation issue too since they have a history of downplaying (some would call it 'lying') issues that they feel show them in a poor light. Are your son and daughter-in-law under a contract to stay for a specified number of years?

I've been concerned about all y'all up there in the Panhandle and what the drought must be doing to your wheat crops. Every year in Love County it seems like fewer and fewer folks are planting winter wheat as most years we just don't get enough moisture to get it growing well in the fall. Everyone had good hay put up from last year, but fires have taken some of those stored bales, and many ranchers have fed hay heavily all winter, leaving them lower supplies now and not very good prospects for rain either.

Like you, we keep having chances of rain but then it misses us. I cannot complain. We had 4/10s of an inch at our house a couple of weeks ago and while that isn't much, it is better than nothing. It is silly to be as grateful for such a piddly amount of rain as I was, but any moisture is better than none.

I hope the wind doesn't cause y'all a lot of wildfire issues there today. I see on the National Watch and Warning map that some counties not far west of you and Jay have Red Flag Fire Warnings up.

Jay, I hope the farmer who lost his tractor and disc was not injured himself and I do hate to hear he lost his equipment. There's always a danger of that sort of thing happening in wind-driven fires. It also happens here a lot when folks are haying in summer...one spark in the tall grass and suddenly the field they're cutting and baling is on fire and sometimes, depending on wind direction, the tractor's on fire too. I have seen some folks 'outrun' the fire in their tractor but the wind has to be on your side in order for that to happen.

Having short grass is a blessing at this point. Tim and I have mowed down the tall pasture grasses we leave standing for the wildlife in winter. It was too big of a fire risk to leave it standing any longer.

I've given up on having any significant rain and now I'm just watering regularly to keep the ground around the house from getting too dry. The ground is so dry that water doesn't soak in....it sits on the surface and rolls downhill. I'm working now to correct that. When I watered the garden yesterday, water rolled off the dry soil in the raised beds and into the pathways. Maybe I should be planting in the pathways and leaving the raised beds bare.

Dawn

Dawn as I understand from listening to one of the fire fighters at the cafe yesterday morning. That the firefighters were able to get the farmer out safely. They had asked for farmers to plow fire guards and unfortunately this one lost his tractor and disc. Jay

Jay,

Everyone knows the best place to get the local news is the local cafe.

I'm glad they got the farmer out safely.

Dawn

Dawn,
The winds have been picking up for the last few hours. When I got home I learned the fire fighters from our county were called to Stanton county again this afternoon. That is where the large fire was Tuesday. Not much break for the fire fighters right now. I know you know all to well what that is like. Most around here are volunteer so many have to take off work when there are as many as we've had this week. Yes the local cafe's are good sources of info about the fires as some come into them to eat and others pick up food and drinks there to take to them. Jay

Jay,

I hope your firefighters get a break soon. They need one.
It wasn't too bad here in our county today, but we had heavy smoke from fires elsewhere in Oklahoma all day long.

I do know what it is like and I hate seeing anyone go through that. I remember 2005-2006 as the 15 months we never slept and fought fires like mad. Needless to say, I didn't have much of a garden at that time because there wasn't water for it and I didn't have time to take care of it.

Our county only had one fire today and I believe it took 7 departments only 2 or 3 hours to contain it and then get it put out. Our wind was low at the time, and by the time the wind came up later, the fire was out.

Tomorrow I think the danger will be a little higher. Until significant rain falls and significant greenup occurs, we're going to have more bad days, firewise, than good ones.

Dawn

my sister lives in franktown, CO and was evacuated this afternoon b/c of a wild fire. they're nearby in a hotel, and i'm listening to the live feed of the firefighters on the fire(over the internets), and relaying info to her.

the fire is within 1/2 mile of her house.

not cool.

I haven't been reading this thread until tonight and hadn't realized that so much of Oklahoma was on fire. We had planned a trip with our son and DIL tomorrow but since a fire is burning near them, they have decided not to leave home. Right now it is across a plowed field from them, so hopefully they can stop it. The danger is if it goes around and catches the woods on the other side of them. They were hoping for rain, but it looks like it has now gone east of them and was just showers at best. I guess we all need to do our best rain dance.

We received light rain last night (and a ton of thunder), and my son said they got enough rain at their house that it appeared to have put out the fires near them. Blessing from heaven!

Carol,
No rain here. It was nice this morning and the fires were all out. Then around 3 the winds started kicking up and now are blowing 25-35 mph and I heard the sirens go off again. Talked to a fire fighter again this morning. He looked wore out. Fighting fires and also trying to farm when he can. They were saying that they feel at least 4 out of the 6 big fires were started by arcing power lines. One was started by blowout and a rim creating sparks from hitting the pavement. The driver called it in as soon it happened but with the high winds it spread fast. The remaining one they are saying possible power line arcing because of where it started but they aren't positive. In the one fire they said a lady saw the lines arcing and called the power company and the fire dept was called also but by the time they arrived the fire was started and had spread. Right now everything is ripe for rapid burning and with the winds the fires spread fast. And that is what makes them so dangerous. You can be a half mile a way and then it will be on you. Jay

Dawn to answer your question from 3 days ago, yes my DIL is under 2 year contract with the department of defense to teach at Yokosuka Navy Base. Since there are about 45% of the students still at the school the teachers are not allowed to evacuate. My son is now substituting full time because some of the teachers who are pregnant or have very young children have been allowed to leave. The rest of the teachers can leave only if a mandatory evacuation happens.

The teachers really are needed because most of the remaining student's parents are deployed to assist in the relief efforts so they have no parent at home and need the structure and supervision of the school.

Today was a beautiful day here but winds have picked up again tonight. We really apprecaite our volunteer fire department. We had two big fires burn onto our property in the last round of drought and would have had much more serious losses than we experienced if not for the firefighters. One of those fires was caused by a faimily burning trash on a day with 30 mph winds. I can't imagine why anyone would try to do that.

Praying for rain and hope all of the state of OK receives moisture soon.
Jan

Carol,

Oklahoma has many grassfires and wildfires every single day. The air is so smokey here that I don't even like being outside, and most of that smoke the last couple of days has been blowing in this way from the Atoka county area's fires.

Sometimes when I look at some of the satellite maps on the OKFire website, there are so many little dots representing fires that is it dizzying. Most of the country is under drought and wildfires are very common in the southeast, south and southern plains....everywhere from Florida to Louisiana to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, etc. Even some parts of the rain forest in Hawaii have been burning.

Both coasts have had more rain and snow and are having some flooding. In the middle, though, we're literally on fire.

I am afraid that if rain doesn't fall, the winter fire season won't end in late spring like it usually does and we'll have a horrible summer. I've been watering my compost pile every day, hoping I can keep it moist enough that it won't burn if a grassfire reaches our property.

We need rain in the worst possible way and it certainly isn't falling here. I use the water hose every day to make puddles for the butterflies, birds and small wildlife to drink from. Except for our lilypond, the ponds are either completely dry or all that's left is mud and pond scum. Yuck! We need for the wet season to be wet, but instead it is brutally dry, and with all the grasslands and cedar trees in OK, dry = fire every time.

I am tired of the fires and tired of the smoke and tired of the dry, cracked, bare ground. It looks like August here, and it is March.

Today a friend of ours asked Tim if I wanted some "old, spoiled hay" he wants to get rid of. He had planned to burn it to get rid of it, but then the county comissioners passed a burn ban before he got around to it. I am so excited....it is 200 bales, and Tim says he doesn't spray his hay, although tomorrow I'll ask that question just to be sure I don't bring contaminated hay onto our property. Two hundred bales? Think of the fun I'll have mulching and composting with it. I'll have to be careful though, because at the same time, 200 bales of hay is a huge fire risk in these conditions.

Dawn

The air in OKC has been so smoky and hazy all day, even though there aren't any large wildfires around today. The news reported that there had been a lot of calls inquiring about the smoke, and that it's blowing in from the large fires in the northern part of the state.

Suzie

"Sometimes when I look at some of the satellite maps on the OKFire website"

Dawn, do you mean the one on Mesonet? I tried to find a place to watch them last night and couldn't.

Jan, I assumed they were under contract but given the important role they're filling in the lives of those kids, I bet your son and daughter-in-law wouldn't pack up and come home tomorrow even if they could. I so admire the work they're doing and hope and pray they remain safe.

I am glad your volunteer firefighters were able to stop the fires that burned onto your place from doing worst damage than they did.

I appreciate all our volunteer firefighters too. I see them put themselves on the line time and again to stop a fire, save people from dangerous situations like fire, flooding, icy highways, etc., and even venture into lakes and rivers to search for drowning victims. They have a remarkable kind of courage and "can do it" spirit. Through my involvement with our fire department, I've met so many remarkable heroes from all over our county and from outside our county as well. Down here along the Red River, it is not uncommon for firefighers to cross the river to help their fellow firefighters on the other side of the river, and I know that is true in all border counties as well.

When I take our firefighters cold drinks, snacks and meals, they always are so grateful that someone is looking out for them. I tell them over and over again that we appreciate them and that making sure they have cold drinks and food is just a tiny way to say "thank you" for all they do. I am in awe of their willingness to protect not only people but also their property and wildlife as well.

Carol,

Tim uses OKFire a lot, and I've used it for other info, but haven't used the satellite maps much until the last couple of days.

When you're at the OK Mesonet page, clicks on the "Programs" category. From there, click on "Wildland Fire Managment" and that will take you to the OKFire main page. Once there, you can click on "Satellite" and use the menu it brings up to see various satellite images of fires. I haven't spent enough time on those pages to understand what all the data shows, but I could tell it was showing us a lot of fires and smoke.

We have used the Prescription Fire Planner pages before, and I often use the OKFire page to check the fire conditions from my phone when we're out at a fire and the Incident Command officer is wanting to know windspeed, humidity levels, etc. The satellite stuff is new to me and I'm going to try to figure out more of what it shows when I have time.

Dawn

Thanks Dawn, that's pretty neat and I didn't know it was out there. I wanted to see that very thing a couple of nights ago but didn't know where to find it. It is probably a good thing I didn't since it wasn't far from my son. LOL

We had light rain night before last, and almost an inch last night. The north end of my garden never got dry enough to till, so I guess the tomatoes and peppers will just get planted by the "hole" method. We have 3 raised beds on that end and two of them are already planted. I will be able to plant the other one, and then just dig holes for the rest I guess. I don't like to til until the ground surface is dry, not only for the soil structure, but also for the worms. If it is too dry on top they go down a little deeper and are unharmed. It is mid-afternoon and our temp is 42, wet, and a little breezy. I hope this week is the last of winter weather.

Thanks for the website.