Prairie fires kill at least six, scorch 2,300 square miles
Wildfires raging across four states, fanned by winds and fueled by a drought-starved prairie, have killed at least six people and burned more than 2,300 square miles.
Winds in western Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle were easing somewhat Wednesday, but weather officials said that conditions were challenging for fire crews and were expected to worsen today and Friday, renewing concerns about getting the fires under control.
“These conditions will make it somewhat easier for firefighting efforts, but far from perfect,” said Bill Bunting, forecast operations chief for the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center. “The fires still will be moving.”
“The ideal situation is that it would turn cold and rain,” he said, “and unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.”
The National Weather Service has issued a critical fire risk warning from the Texas Panhandle into Oklahoma, Kansas and western Missouri.
Phillip Truitt, a specialist with the Texas A&M Forest Service, told Reuters that because of the high-risk days ahead, “we’re trying to get these fires buttoned up as fast as we can.”
It was not clear what started the fires, but Bunting said human activity — such as a cigarette thrown from a car or a spark from a catalytic converter — is most often the culprit. Lightning accounts for 25 percent of wildfires.
Among the dead were three ranch hands in the Texas Panhandle who were trying to herd cattle away from the flames. Judge Richard Peet, the top administrator of Gray County, Texas, told local news outlets that three people had been killed by a wildfire that flared Monday afternoon.
One man, Cody Crockett, 20, was on horseback; his girlfriend, Sydney Wallace, 23, was nearby on foot, Peet said. Wallace, he said, was unable to escape the fumes and died of smoke inhalation.
Crockett and the third victim, Sloan Everett, 35, who was also on horseback, suffered burns, Peet said.
Nearly 6 million people live in areas at risk for critical wildfire conditions, including Tulsa, Okla., Oklahoma City and Kansas City, the Storm Prediction Center said.
Kansas officials said that in addition to the homes and buildings destroyed, the fires had killed an unknown amount of livestock in several counties.