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The
large Anderson Creek fire in Woods County grew rapidly Wednesday as extremely
dry air and strong gusty winds hampered firefighting efforts. The fire is
reported to have started approximately 15 miles west of Alva near Camp Houston.
Oklahoma Forestry Services officials estimate 397,420 acres have burned in
Oklahoma and Kansas with 0% containment.

?????Cooperation
between county, state and out of area resources is critical,??? said Drew Daily,
incident commander. ???Given the complexity of the incident, we will transfer
command of the fire to a Type 2 Incident Management Team remaining in Unified
Command with Woods County to effectively manage and suppress this large
wildfire.???

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Several
structures and communities are threatened by the large blaze, with several
structures reported as lost. Oklahoma Emergency Management damage assessments
are on-going.

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Very
high fire danger is present today west of a line from Washington County to
Jefferson County. Northwesterly winds are forecast in the 10-15 mph range with
20 mph gusts possible and low relative humidity dropping into the upper teens.
Fire officials caution that any on-going or new fires have the potential to
burn and spread rapidly with erratic fire behavior.

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Due
to this potential behavior, citizens are asked to call and report any smoke or
fires to their nearest fire department. ???Reporting fires quickly is critical to
keeping fire size small,??? said Daily.

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Oklahoma
Forestry Services is the state's lead agency related to wildland fire
prevention, protection and use. For additional information about wildfires,
visit www.forestry.ok.gov/wildfire-information.

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