Prairie Fire

Last nite on the way home from OKC, we were about half way between Guthrie and the Highway 51 exit off of I-35. For those of you familiar with the drive from OKC to Stillwater along I-35, we could see smoke and flames as we crested a hill just south of the Cimarron River bridge. At that point, we were approximately 10 miles from Highway 51 and about 12 miles from the fires. After we got off of I-35 onto Highway 51, we stopped near a restaurant near the exit and took several photos which are in the slideshow in the previous post. The flames were huge. The photos do not do the blazes justice at all. At that point, we were not sure how far east and south the fire was located. As it turns out, the fire was about 2 miles east and 1-1/2 miles south of where we were taking photos. We drove two miles east and then south along the county road to the fire. Apparently, someone started burning brush piles and the flames spread west and south from near the house and barns in the fourth photo. The last photo shows a flaming brush pile and flames in the background. The fire appeared to have spread about a mile west and south of the house. Most of the big blazes were caused by burning cedar trees. Amazing stuff.