Oklahoma City Fire Department offers safety tips for wildfire season

A wildfire surrounded her home near SE 29 and Choctaw Road in the past, she said.

Firefighters brought in brush pumpers with 3,000-gallon tanks to knock down the blaze.

If the scenario repeats itself this year, she'll be ready for it.

On April 18, Richardson attended a “Targeting Wild Land Fires” presentation hosted by the Oklahoma City Fire Department at Harmony Christian Church in Choctaw.

At community events like this one, the department is reaching out to help residents prepare for wildfire season, Battalion Chief Tim Adams said.

There are two wildfire seasons in Oklahoma: late winter through early spring and summer, said Gary McManus, a climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

Except for a portion of the Panhandle and the southwest part of the state, the majority of Oklahoma is no longer in a drought, McManus said.

But the lush green field and trees may give residents a false sense of security.

All that vegetation could make good fuel for dangerous fires later in the summer, he said.

“If it does dry out, there will be a lot of fuel there available for fire,” McManus said.

Experts don't expect the summer will be as hot and dry as 2011, but nothing is certain, McManus said.

There are equal chances the summer will be hotter than normal, cooler than normal, or just average.

“We do know, in general, it's probably going to be hot, because that's what happens in Oklahoma. And it'll probably be dry. That's just the law of averages,” he said.