2nd week of wildfires begins

As firefighters enter the second week of raging Oklahoma wildfires, the cooperative weather allowed them to make more progress than they have in days.

The wildfires have scorched across more than 400,000 acres, killed two people and hurt 20, emergency management officials have said.

More than 283,000 acres have burned in Dewey County, where the Rhea fire was 15 percent contained Thursday.

The number is up from the 3 percent of containment reported the last few days, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Service.

More than 67,000 acres have burned in Woodward County, where the 34 Complex fire was 45 percent contained Thursday.

A third, much smaller fire reported in Beaver and Harper counties was 80 percent contained by Thursday morning, forestry officials reported.

Firefighters were guarded Thursday in western Oklahoma and the far western Panhandle, with the threat of any fire igniting quickly spreading, forestry officials said.

The fire weather outlook was low for Thursday, but jumps back to an elevated condition on Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

Friday’s high temperatures are expected to peak in the upper 60s with wind gusts up to 32 mph.

The fire weather danger dips back into the “low” category Saturday through Tuesday, the weather service said.

A governor-issued state of emergency remains in effect for 52 Oklahoma counties, and a burn ban remains in effect for 36 western Oklahoma counties.

Additional county burn bans are in place for Alfalfa, Canadian, Grant and Major counties.