Burn ban reinstated, homes threatened by wildfires

Late Monday afternoon, state agriculture experts decided to reinstate the <b><a class="headlinelink" href="http://www.kotv.com/main/home/searchKOTV.asp?mainSearch=burn">burn</a></b> ban for most of the

Monday, March 27th 2006, 3:30 pm

By: News On 6

Late Monday afternoon, state agriculture experts decided to reinstate the burn ban for most of the state.

Wildfires are burning across much of Oklahoma as the ground dries out and the strong
winds return.

So far, no homes have burned, but one of today's fires came dangerously close to a home near Kiefer.

News on 6 reporter Jennifer Loren says the fire began along a road and quickly spread across a field, burning all the way up to a house.

The woman who lives there is married to a Kiefer Firefighter.

She didn't even know about it until someone called and said the field next to her house was burning.

By the time she got outside, a shed next to the house was burning and the flames were headed straight for her door.

"We came out the garage and it was already, I mean, already coming," says Shelley Blankenship. "You could feel the heat. It was in the front yard. It was coming so fast. The wind out here is always blowing and it was coming so fast I know the house was going to be gone."

Firefighters are not sure what started this fire, although they're speculating it may have been a cigarette.

Most of Monday's fires though have been caused by unattended burn piles set after the Governor lifted the burn ban last week.