Oklahoma Fires

[955i]

MAN! What a day. I'm afraid our 100-mile gravel race will be cancelled. There were runners on the course west of Stillwater this afternoon, who had to be taken in by vehicles. Fires were cutting across the route. These folks (about 250 of them) were running a gravel 50K ultra. About 200 of them were then going for "The Double" by riding the 107-mile gravel race tomorrow. My daughter and brother-in-law ran the half-marathon but had no fire problems because they were in by 11:00 a.m. By noon, the steady winds were 40mph, with gusts to 65-70.

There are a number of fires all around the state, but the winds will lay down tonight after midnight. They are reduced even no at 8:00PM. The skies are full of brown smoke and dust.

Guess I won't ride tomorrow, even if the race somehow goes on. The course is littered with fallen trees, power lines, etc. Plus the emrgency crews will be out on the roads.

[802Mike]

I hadn't heard about these fires, don't take chances.

[Lee]

Wow. Don't blame you for not going. Besides the debris there may still be smoke.
We had a dry winter so we may also see a lot of fires this spring.
When the storm front went through here yesterday late afternoon we had 70 mph winds for about 10 minutes.

[Susan]

We watched the fire / high winds situation on the news. Pretty grim. Recently we have had trees in our area fall, pulling down power lines and causing brush fires. Last night's storm was interesting and can't imagine what it was like for your part of the country. The power came back on at 2:30 this afternoon. Lots of tree damage. Weather, you can't escape it.

[wildbears]

About a week ago our cars got covered in dust from a dust storm out west. Hard to see thru the windshields.

[Lee]

We also have a lot of dirt in the air. Some days it's red Oklahoma dirt and some days Iowa dirt from the bare crop fields.
The day we had the 70 mph winds a town 10 miles east lost power for a day.

[955i]

Yeserday I rode the gravel bike out near where the fires had been. Saw some devestation, but I was the one that was destroyed. 45 miles of gravel with 4 guys who are much better than I. It was fun, though. Two were French-Canadian guys in their late 20's who had been evacuated from their hotel Saturday night. They spent the night with my Deputy friend who volunteered to take in evacuees. (There were 3500 or more people involved in the Mid-South,many were in hotels in the path of the fire. Fortunately, although 40 or so structures were burned, the fire was stopped before it spread to the congested areas.)

Anyway, I'm normally a 10.5 mph gravel rider. Picking it up to 13 mph may not sound like much. But, 45 miles of that busted me.

[wildbears]

Mid South Gravel Race Cancelled Due to Wildfires

https://www.slowtwitch.com/gravel/mi...-to-wildfires/

"The Mid South Gravel event has been cancelled, just hours before riders were scheduled to depart, due to wildfires and high winds batter Oklahoma.

In a statement posted to Instagram cancelling the event, organizers said, “We have been in constant communication with all city and county emergency services and we are announcing that Mid South 2025 is officially canceled. All efforts, support, and energy are being sent to fight this wildfire tragedy in our home that we love so much.�"

[wildbears]

Total square miles burned in the CA fires = 90.

Total in OK = 265!

[Susan]

Our county (Henderson) is now declared in a state of emergency due to the wildfires that started in Polk County and will continue until emergency service officials advise otherwise.
Also there is the Table Rock fire that started across the SC state line and has now spread into NC. There are fire crews from all over assisting, but the winds are making it difficult to contain the spread, not to mention the steep terrain. I'm going to be a bit nervous leaving for THCR tomorrow morning. We need rain!

But meanwhile, these arrived from Montana.

[wildbears]

Maybe rain on Sunday.....

[802Mike]

I be nervous also. Take care.

[wildbears]

[wildbears]

Rain is still in the forecast for Sunday. Prevailing winds out of the southwest thru then.

[justjoe]

Moved thread from the Jokes forum to Chit Chat. I didn't think it belonged in "Jokes".

[955i]

Thanks, Joe. I have started very few threads, and just screwed it up this time. I saw it later, but just left it alone. Thanks.

[wildbears]

Found this today...https://data.usatoday.com/fires/

[wildbears]

The link has a table with 17 pages of recent fires. Page 17 shows a large number developing in the LA area and elsewhere in CA.