Plains megafire grows to nearly twice the size of Chicago with more dangerous weather to come
By CNN Meteorologists Mary Gilbert and Briana Waxman and CNN’s Amanda Musa
(CNN) — Dangerous, critical fire weather conditions persist Thursday after more than a dozen new wildfires torched tens of thousands of acres and forced evacuations in the Plains amid bone-dry conditions and powerful winds on Tuesday.
The Ranger Road Fire is the largest and is now a megafire: It exploded in size and has burned more than 283,000 acres in Oklahoma and Kansas since starting early Tuesday afternoon. That’s nearly twice the size of Chicago.
Most of that extreme growth happened in just eight hours, during which the fire on average consumed an area equal to three to four football fields every second. The fire was at 15% containment as of Wednesday evening, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Service.
The Ranger Road Fire started in Beaver County, Oklahoma, then spread for about 60 miles to reach southern Kansas. It forced the evacuations of thousands of people in Englewood and Ashland, Kansas, on Tuesday, according to CNN affiliate KAKE.
Beaver County EMS told CNN on Wednesday that “there have been homes and buildings lost to the fires,” but it could not confirm how extensive the damage is yet because it is still actively fighting fires. “I can only say that there have been [property] losses for now. No lives have been lost and that has been confirmed.”
At least four firefighters were injured in Beaver County and taken to local hospitals, according to a Tuesday news release from Oklahoma’s Department of Emergency Management.
In Kansas, another four firefighters were injured Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department told CNN on Wednesday.
Another wildfire that broke out in Woodward, Oklahoma — a city of about 12,000 residents in northwestern part of the state — forced several thousand people to evacuate in the southwest quadrant of the city, emergency manager Matt Lehenbauer told CNN affiliate KOCO. Most of these evacuation orders were lifted by late Tuesday.
The fire also prompted evacuations at Northwestern Oklahoma State University’s Woodward campus, which resumed normal operating hours on Wednesday.
The blaze destroyed at least three structures in Woodward, including two at a United States Department of Agriculture facility, according to the state emergency management department.
In Texas County, Oklahoma, separate fires have destroyed multiple structures and prompted evacuations in the panhandle town of Tyrone, according to the emergency management release.
Heavy smoke from one of the blazes caused a multi-vehicle crash on Highway 54 near Tyrone, according to Guymon Fire Department Chief Grant Wadley, who is overseeing the response to these fires.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declared a disaster emergency for Beaver, Texas and Woodward counties on Wednesday to activate state emergency management resources. Stitt had also requested air assets from Texas to help battle the fires, but it was too windy to fly, the governor told CNN affiliate KOCO Tuesday.
“The Woodward fires are about 20% contained, and we were very fortunate to keep most neighborhoods safe. A few homes were lost,” Stitt said in a news release Wednesday. “As we head into today and tomorrow, conditions remain dangerous. We need every Oklahoman to stay alert and continue taking fire warnings seriously.”
Multiple other dangerous fires have each burned thousands of acres in the Plains and Rockies starting Tuesday, including two in the Texas Panhandle called the Lavender and 8-Ball fires.
As of Wednesday evening, the Lavender Fire was an estimated 12,000 acres and 20% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. Dozens of fire engines were staged at Highway 87 to try to prevent the fire from jumping the highway, according to CNN affiliate KVII.
Weather conditions won’t help crews fighting massive fires
More than 750,000 people in the Plains saw Level 3 of 3 extremely critical fire weather conditions on Tuesday. Thursday, like Wednesday, carries a Level 2 of 3 critical fire weather threat across much of the southern Plains, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
Dry air and sustained winds up to 20 mph with some higher gusts will continue to challenge fire crews on Thursday, especially in the Rockies and Plains. Windy conditions will continue to spur fire growth — especially in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas — through tinder-dry fuels like grasses.
Past wildfires sparked in similar conditions have been devastating: 2024’s Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle, the state’s largest wildfire, burned through more than 500 structures.
This dangerous setup has been brewing all winter. Nearly 200 locations across the West, Rockies and portions of the Plains are experiencing their warmest winter to date, according to data from NOAA. This includes where the worst fires are burning this week in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
The persistent heat coupled with less precipitation than normal has created dry to drought-stricken soils in the region and crispy fuels. It’s a situation that will likely only become more common as the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution.
Powerful winds turned deadly
Tuesday’s high winds also whipped up dust and dirt, making travel hazardous. In Colorado, at least five people were killed in a pileup amid reduced visibility in “brown out” conditions, the state patrol said.
The pileup on Interstate 25 south of Pueblo, Colorado, involved over 30 vehicles and occurred after winds gusted up to 61 mph.
“Visibility was next to nothing,” Colorado State Police Maj. Brian Lyons said, describing the wind event as moving in very quickly.
At least 29 people were taken to the hospital with injuries, according to the Colorado State Patrol. One of those people later died from their injuries, according to the state patrol.
Elsewhere that day, a person was killed in a vehicle crash after the same winds caused a dust storm in Thomas County, Kansas, state officials told CNN.
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN Meteorologist Chris Dolce and CNN’s Eric Zerkel and Cindy Von Quednow contributed to this report.
