OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Authorities in northwestern Oklahoma are encouraging residents of the town of Freedom to evacuate as an uncontrolled wildfire spreads rapidly toward the community of about 300 people.
Woods County Emergency Management Director Steve Foster says sheriff's deputies are encouraging residents of Freedom to leave.
The fire was about one to two hours southwest of Freedom as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and was pushed by winds gusting around 40 miles per hour, according to Woodward County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer.
Lehenbauer says the fire also was threatening an iodine-manufacturing plant. Officials don't believe the plant would be a significant explosion risk, but it could produce environmental hazards.
Officials estimate the fire has burned roughly 20 square miles of rural land, and is about 20 miles from the Kansas border.
