A fire in northwestern Oklahoma has consumed over 4,000 acres, with the damage stretching into northeastern New Mexico.
As KFOR reports, fire crews struggled to contain the so-called Porter Fire, which began in Cimarron County. The fire was attributed, like most of the recent fires on the High Plains, to “high temperatures and low-relative humidity.”
Among the crews and organizations working to extinguish the blaze were Oklahoma Forestry Services, Cimarron County, Texas County, National Guard helicopters, New Mexico Forestry Service and Rabbit Ear Fire Department.
Heavy rains across the region have presented a welcome relief to High Plains fire crews, though it should be stressed that fire dangers still exist in much of the region due to extreme drought conditions in recent months, combined with heavy, dry grasses that grew as a result of a wet 2017.