Wildfires have burned through hundreds of thousands of acres in northwest Oklahoma near the Kansas and Texas borders. The largest of the three fires has burned more than 715,000 acres, according to the situation report issued on Wednesday, March 8.
The Starbuck Fire in Harper and Beaver counties has triggered evacuations and destroyed “numerous residences, secondary structures, livestock and other infrastructure.” The fire remains uncontained.
The Selman Fire in Harper and Woodward counties has burned more than 47,000 acres, and the 283 Fire in Harper County has burned more than 71,000 acres. Neither fire is contained. All three fires are being managed as the Northwest Oklahoma Complex Fire.
The Oklahoma Forestry Services warned dry, windy conditions continued on Wednesday, which could cause any new fire “to burn very intensely with rapid rates of speed.”
This video shows the fire near the Oklahoma-Texas border from an airplane. Credit: Craig Inderwiesen via Storyful
