Wildfire scorches acres in northeast OKC
Two homes and two vehicles were damaged Thursday afternoon in a wildfire in northeast Oklahoma City that blanketed the sky with plumes of smoke and burned hundreds of acres.
About 2 p.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to the 10000 block of N Kelley Avenue on a reported house fire. High winds helped to spread the fire, which had burned more than 20 acres in less than an hour, fire officials said.
By 3:45 p.m., officials estimated that “a couple hundred” acres had burned. More than 50 Oklahoma City firefighters responded to the fire and were assisted by other fire crews, including Del City and Spencer.
Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson said despite damage to the homes and vehicles, there were no injuries reported.
Firefighters battled the fire for several hours, working against wind gusts up to 30 mph. Officials asked people at nearby Oklahoma Centennial Mid-High School to shelter in place at one point, but an evacuation order was not necessary.
By 4:25 p.m., Fulkerson said firefighters had a handle on the fire and were continuing to work toward containing it.
Warm, windy and dry weather is expected Friday and will set up another day of near critical fire weather conditions across central Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service.
In Oklahoma City, temperatures are expected to climb to the upper 70s, with 22 mph sustained winds in the afternoon and wind gusts as high as 31 mph.