Examining the Use of Fire Warnings During the February 2024 Southern Great Plains Wildfire Outbreak

Over the course of two days in February 2024, a significant wildfire outbreak occurred across protions of the Southern Great Plains. Over 1.5 million acres burned across portions of Texas and Oklahoma. This included the Smokehouse Creek Fire which, at over 1 million acres, became the largest single wildfire in recorded Texas state history. During this wildfire event, the National Weather Service Forecast Offices in both Amarillo, TX, and Norman, OK, provided significant support to their partner organizations in local and state governments. Of note, these two WFOs issued a combined total of 21 Fire Warnings at the behest of emergency management and fire officials. With the historic nature of this event in mind, researchers sought to better understand the use of Fire Warnings as a standalone NWS product. As Fire Warnings are still a relatively new product, there remains a fair amount of uncertainty regarding the process for Fire Warning issuance, dissemination, product details, and expected actions by the public. To better understand the processes around this product, researchers interviewed NWS meteorologigists, local and state government officials, and broadcast meteorologists in some of the most impacted regions of this event. This presentation will provide a short background of the Fire Warning product, outline this wildfire event, and include preliminary findings about how Fire Warnings were requested, issued, and disseminated - specifically through the lens of the Smokehouse Creek Fire.