Wildfires destroy dozens of homes in Texas, Okla.

POSSUM KINGDOM LAKE, Texas?? Wildfires sweeping through parts of Texas and Oklahoma have destroyed dozens of homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate.

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Officials don't yet know what ignited the blazes, but a summer heat wave and drought have left both states with the perfect fuel: parched ground and dry vegetation.

"We're in severe drought conditions, so just the tiniest little spark can start a wildfire," Texas Forest Service spokeswoman April Saginor said.

Firefighters working through the night were expected Wednesday to make progress on a fast-moving blaze in North Texas that destroyed at least 20 homes in a lakeside community Tuesday.

The fire also was threatening about 125 other homes in the Possum Kingdom Lake area, about 75 miles west of Fort Worth.

Authorities were evacuating homes along Possum Kingdom Lake, mostly by boat because main roads were cut off.

"I can't believe we are facing this again," said Sherry Berman, a Dallas-area resident who owns a vacation home on Possum Kingdom Lake that was spared in a fire that hit the area in April. "It's the same anxiety all over again."

Massive blazes in roughly the same area scorched hundreds of thousands of acres and destroyed 160 homes this spring.

Most of Texas has been under extreme drought for the past 11 months and persistent triple-digit heat continues to plague most of the state. A ban on outdoor burning is in place in 251 of Texas' 254 counties, the Forest Service said.

The Texas Forest Service was first dispatched to the scene at 1:35 p.m. CDT.

'Out of control'
Tom Berglund, also of the Forest Service, said a combination of high winds and dry conditions makes it easy for the vegetation to burn and for fires to spread. Cedar and juniper trees in the area are fueling the fire, he said.

"The fire itself is pretty much out of control," Palo Pinto County Sheriff Ira Mercer said in an interview with NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. "This fire is not something that you can battle from the ground. The flames are jumping 150 feet in the air. It's not something you can put personnel in on."

One person sustained minor burns in the fire, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

The fire had grown to at least 3,500 acres by Tuesday afternoon, though officials were expecting a more accurate map Wednesday morning, Texas Forest Service spokesman John Nichols said.

Temperatures reached 106 degrees in the area Tuesday afternoon with winds gusting up to 28 mph, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Dunn. By nightfall, gusts were at about 20 mph and the temperature was around 99.

Cloud cover expected to move in overnight could help keep the winds around 10 mph, though winds as strong as 20 mph and were expected by afternoon and temperatures again could climb into the triple-digits, Dunn said.

"When you get just a little bit of wind in these dry conditions, it just doesn't take anything to get a fire started," Nichols said.

Hundreds of home evacuated
In Oklahoma City, bursts of flame rose amid thick black smoke Tuesday as oil-packed cedar trees ignited, giving gawkers a stunning view from several blocks away.

Utility poles lit up like matchsticks, and power was out to more than 7,000 homes and businesses.

The fire destroyed 10 to 12 homes and consumed 1,500 acres in a sparsely populated and heavily wooded section of the city, fire department spokesman Mark Woodard said.

Several hundred homes were evacuated, Red Cross spokesman Rust Surette said.

No major injuries have been reported from either blaze. Air tankers and helicopters were brought in to help fight the fires.

The Oklahoma City fire was largely under control by Tuesday night, but a flare-up at the head of the blaze was in a wooded area that firefighters were having trouble reaching, Woodard said.

"Luckily the sun is going down and everything will calm down," Emergency Medical Services Authority spokeswoman Lara O'Leary said Tuesday evening. "It's been a long day."

O'Leary said four people, including two firefighters, were treated for minor injuries. Three were transported to hospitals where all were in good condition, she said.

The fire in Oklahoma City's rural northeast corner paralleled Interstate 35, with smoke rolling northward as strong winds stoked the fire.

At times, flames could be seen amid the roiling black cloud. The blaze moved about four miles from where it started Tuesday afternoon, Bryant said.

"This is a heavily wooded area," Bryant said. "There are cedar trees out here. Cedar trees burn very hot. They're very heavily laden with oil."

This article contains reporting from The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44335545/ns/us_news-life/

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