Wildfires reported across the state

Firefighters were busy Tuesday, with low humidity and high winds causing wildfires to pop up across the state.

A red flag alert for wildfire danger was in effect 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday for the entire state, the National Weather Service reported.

Harper County firefighters rushed to extinguish a wildfire Tuesday morning as 44 mph wind gusts swept across western Oklahoma.

Firefighters were able to get a handle on a wildfire just south of Laverne, said Rene Spradlin, deputy director for Harper County Emergency Management Agency in Buffalo.

“We are just praying to God we can just make it through this day," Spradlin said.

Last year, homes were lost in wildfires that burned about 100,000 acres in Woodward, Harper, Beaver and Texas counties.

"It is a stark reminder of what we went through last year, and we just don’t want to repeat that again, but the conditions are absolutely ripe for that right now,” Spradlin said.

In adjacent Woods County, to the east, Oklahoma Forestry Services crews were arriving on scene about 4:20 p.m. to a reported 650-acre grass fire, spokeswoman Michelle Finch-Walker said.

Forestry services also assisted firefighters in Custer, Garvin, Osage, Pottawatomie, and Roger Mills counties, Finch-Walker said.

A wildfire was also reported by emergency management officials east of Enid in Garfield County on Tuesday afternoon.

A grass fire in McClain County forced the closure of Interstate 35 for about an hour Tuesday afternoon.

Northbound and southbound lanes were closed due to a grass fire between mile markers 101 and 103 from about 2:30 p.m. to 3:20 p.m., the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.

A total acreage burned on Tuesday was not immediately available.

Fire danger will continue to be elevated through Friday, the weather service said.

Sixteen counties in western Oklahoma are under a burn ban enacted by Gov. Mary Fallin. They are: Beaver, Beckham, Cimarron, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Greer, Harper, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa, Roger Mills, Texas, Washita, Woods and Woodward counties. Commissioners in Alfalfa and Major counties have also declared burn bans in those counties.