Immediate Evacuation Ordered for Woodward, Oklahoma Due to Destructive Wildfire
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 6, 2026, 5 months ago. Warnings of this kind stay in effect for hours to a few days, so this page is a historical record of what was issued, not a current warning. For conditions where you are right now, check weather.gov (US), weather.gc.ca (Canada), the Met Office (UK), or the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia).
Areazine synthesizes this NWS weather alert directly from NOAA's official public data feed. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
Oklahoma Emergency Management has issued an immediate evacuation order for parts of Woodward as a large, out-of-control wildfire spreads rapidly northeast toward residential areas.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Evacuation Immediate
- Affected area
- Woodward, Oklahoma
- Issued
- April 6, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NOAA
The warning type, named area, and issue time define this record. Confirm all three against the original agency notice before treating it as current.
Record status: historical. It was issued 5 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Woodward, Oklahoma.
Alert Details
Oklahoma Emergency Management has issued an "Evacuation Immediate" alert for the City of Woodward. The alert was officially issued at 4:46 PM CST on February 17, 2026, following reports of a large and destructive wildfire burning out of control.
Affected Areas
The immediate evacuation order is in effect for the City of Woodward. Specifically, officials have identified the area between Oklahoma Avenue and Hanks Trail, and east of 22nd Street, as being in immediate danger. The fire is located southwest of the city and is spreading rapidly to the northeast.
What You Should Do
Residents in the affected zones must LEAVE IMMEDIATELY to avoid injury or death. Emergency management officials stress that individuals should not delay to pack belongings. Evacuation should be directed to the south or southeast of the city.
When evacuating, be aware that roads may be impacted by fire and smoke. Never drive into heavy smoke. Drivers are required to SLOW DOWN and MOVE OVER for emergency vehicles responding to the scene.
Expected Conditions
A large, destructive wildfire is currently spreading rapidly northeast. The fire poses an extreme threat to structures, humans, and animals. Heavy smoke is expected to impact visibility on local roadways.
Timeline
The evacuation order was issued at 4:46 PM CST on February 17, 2026, and is currently set to expire at 6:46 PM CST. Residents should monitor local updates as the situation remains fluid and the fire is not yet contained.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
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Two Areazine-derived peer sets for this NWS weather alert: nearest notices by body length and by same severity near the same agency date. Peers come from other categories so they are not the same-feed Related list above.
Similar body length
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Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to April 6, 2026.
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