Oklahomans survey devastation after hundreds of homes are destroyed and
damaged by wildfires
[March 17, 2025]
By JAMIE STENGLE
DALLAS (AP) — As Oklahomans assessed the devastation from wildfires that
whipped across the state, damaging or destroying hundreds of homes,
officials in both Oklahoma and Texas warned Sunday of an increased risk
of fire danger in the coming week.
“We’re going to be back into a critical area,” Oklahoma Forestry
Services spokesperson Keith Merckx said Sunday.
Wildfires fueled by high winds swept across the state on Friday. The
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said Sunday evening that
over 400 homes were damaged statewide Officials said Sunday that at
least four people had died because of the severe weather in Oklahoma.
Jeremy Cook was among the residents in Stillwater, a city of about
50,000 located about 65 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma
City, who returned home Saturday morning to find that his house was
gone. Cook told The Oklahoman that when his family fled Friday, they
loaded up three cars with photographs, pets, books and paintings.
After returning to find his home burned to the foundation, he said he
was going back and forth “between laughing and crying.”
At least 74 homes in and around Stillwater were destroyed by wildfires,
Mayor Will Joyce said Sunday night on Facebook. Fire Chief Terry Essary
said at a news conference Saturday that the fires spread rapidly and
crews had difficulty containing each one because of the high winds and
low humidity. He said they quickly became overwhelmed.
“Nobody has enough resources to fight fires when the wind is blowing 70
mph,” Essary said. “It's an insurmountable task.”
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said on Sunday evening
that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had confirmed four
fatalities related to the fires or high winds across the state. There
was one death each in Lincoln, Garfield, Haskell and Pawnee counties.
Details were not given on the deaths in Haskell and Pawnee counties.
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Keli Cain said
the person in Garfield County was killed in a vehicle accident due to
poor visibility due to dust or smoke and that a man died in Lincoln
County.
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A stump smolders as a remnant of the Crabapple Fire over the weekend
in Gillespie County, Texas, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Robin Jerstad/The
San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Deborah Ferguson told News 9 that her husband, Allen Ferguson, was
killed in Lincoln County. She said that her husband and her
15-year-old son had been fighting a wildfire in a pasture on Friday
and as they fled on a four-wheeler, it crashed into a tree amid
heavy smoke. She said her son was badly burned and is hospitalized.
Erin O’Connor, a spokesperson with the Texas A&M Forest Service,
said the region on Friday had the “perfect recipe for wildfires”
with high winds, dry conditions and above normal temperatures. She
said that less wind on Sunday had helped crews get a handle on the
fires but that more fire activity was expected this coming week.
One of the largest fires in Texas currently had burned about 14
square miles (36 square kilometers) near Fredericksburg, west of
Austin, but was 40% contained by Sunday, she said.
The winds that swept across Texas and Oklahoma were so strong that
they turned over several tractor-trailers. Authorities have said
three people were killed in car crashes during a dust storm caused
by high winds in the Texas Panhandle on Friday.
After touring the damage in Stillwater and Mannford, a city of about
3,000 located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Tulsa, on
Saturday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt went on to survey the damage at
his ranch outside of Oklahoma City, where his home there had burned
to the ground.
“We’ll be rebuilding with the rest of Oklahoma,” Stitt said in a
video posted on X. “You never think it’s going to happen to your
place and these wildfires just come out of nowhere and can really
take over.”
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