By GvilleTX Newsroom
A large grass fire in western Love County shut down Highway 32 just west of Highway 89 on Monday, Aug. 24, according to Fire Department Love County and Love County Emergency Management, forcing traffic away from the area as heat, drought and burn bans covered much of Texoma. Fire Department Love County told the public to avoid the area, and Love County Emergency Management reported the same highway closure during the fire.
The public notices reviewed for this report did not give a cause, acreage, injury report, structure-damage report or reopening time for the Love County fire. The closure mattered first as a travel and safety issue. As general fire-weather context, the National Weather Service Norman office says its Fire Warning product is used for major uncontrolled fires, usually wildfires, that threaten populated areas or major roadways.
The fire came on the day Oklahoma Forestry Services said the week's most dangerous fire weather was expected, with the main concern in southwestern Oklahoma and temperatures running over 100, near 110 along the Red River. The National Weather Service zone forecast for Love County called for highs around 109 with southwest wind and gusts up to 30 mph.
Oklahoma Forestry Services said rangeland fires in western and southwestern Oklahoma could run at roughly 100 feet a minute Monday, with flame lengths around 10 feet. The agency's near-term outlook kept conditions hot and mostly dry. It said most wildland fires were still expected to be stopped in initial attack, but fire behavior could be difficult and some fires could resist control.
The official Oklahoma burn-ban data layer listed Love County under a county burn ban. Carter, Jefferson and Marshall counties were under the same county-level restriction, and the state data layer counted 40 Oklahoma counties under county burn bans. Drought.gov, a federal drought-information site, listed every Love County resident as affected by drought in its current county conditions.
On the Texas side of the Red River, Cooke County's official homepage said that as of Aug. 10 the county was under a burn ban and that all outdoor burning was prohibited. Grayson County's official site showed a burn-ban notice effective Aug. 11. Texas A&M Forest Service says Texas burn bans are set by a county judge or commissioners court.
Texas A&M Forest Service reported Monday that Texas was at Wildfire Preparedness Level 3 after the agency received 40 requests for help on wildfires since Friday. Oklahoma Forestry Services reported wildfire activity for Aug. 18-23 in northeast, east-central and southeast Oklahoma, along with two dozen fire-department wildfire reports totaling more than 1,200 acres statewide while reporting remained open.
Nationally, the National Interagency Fire Center's latest daily report said 200 new fires were reported the previous day, including five new large fires, and that year-to-date U.S. wildfire acreage was well above the 10-year average. For residents around Gainesville and the Red River, the Love County closure put the regional fire danger onto a familiar kind of rural road, with local officials' immediate instruction unchanged: stay away from the fire area.
_Editor's note: Everyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law._
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