Oklahoma Forestry Service Gearing Up For High Fire Danger On Wednesday In NW Okla.

Fire conditions are ripe for the spread of dangerous wildfires have been top of mind for fire crews across northwestern Oklahoma.

“We’re gonna have a pretty tough go at it tomorrow, should a fire start,” state Forester Mark Goeller said.

The State Forestry Service is staging crews and machinery on Wednesday in Guymon, Woodward and Weatherford.

“Friday, we saw fires that burned over 1,000 acres. Tomorrow, we’re anticipating any fire that starts could potentially burn over 10,000 acres,” Goeller said.

The state forester said fires sparking Wednesday afternoon in northwest Oklahoma will move fast as winds howl ahead of a cold front.

“It is unusual for us to see this type of activity in December,” he said. “We really haven’t seen a whole lot of this since 2005 for this time of year. Do we have fires this time of year? Yes, but something of this type of magnitude is unusual.”

News 9 Chief Meteorologist David Payne broke down the elements for why Wednesday could produce a high fire danger.

“The humidity's going to drop to the floor. The wind is going to howl, (and) record high temperatures,” Payne said. “We have our drought which is raging, that’s one problem. Record high temperatures, 70s and 80s tomorrow. We’ve had two months of dry weather and you throw in winds 40, 50, 60 mph.”

Goeller said things like charcoal grilling, cigarettes, welding, dragging sparking chains, and even left over embers from previous days' fires could set things off.

“What we typically worry about on a day like we’re going to see are the powerlines coming down or the powerlines coming together in arcing. We get a lot of fires starting from that,” Goeller said.

He said don't wait until you smell smoke to begin preparing. Goeller said get leaves and dead vegetation away from your homes now.