Norman and area firefighters had several fires with which to contend Thursday, including a wildfire at 180th Avenue SE and Banner Road reportedly started by a resident burning trash in the area.

A statewide burn ban was in effect. The fire burned through a neighborhood east of 180th Avenue SE. No official damage assessment was available at press time but Mariann Lawson, executive director of the Heart of Oklahoma American Red Cross chapter said she had heard eight homes had burned.

The fire was reported approximately 2:30 p.m. and units from Cedar Country, Tribbey, Norman, Slaughterville, Moore, Noble, Lexington and Asher responded to the fire.

Because there is no water service to the area, tankers were constantly shuttling water to the scene.

High winds kept the fire burning late into the night and caused it to spread north to Bourbonais Creek Road and east into Pottawatomie County.

One Norman firefighter was treated at the scene for a shoulder injury by EMSStat paramedics and went back to work.

Many homes were evacuated by the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department and deputies stopped traffic through the area including two Noble school buses.

It is not known yet how many houses were burning but residents are showing signs of stress, a Transcript photographer said, because "they are unable to check on their homes and animals."

One resident reported she was handcuffed by a deputy for not leaving her home immediately. The woman said she had put her neighbor's pets in her well house and was wetting it down when she was told to leave. She was not arrested.

However, another resident was arrested when he ignored the roadblocks and tried to get to his house.

Evacuees were told to report to the Cedar Country Fire Station at 180th Avenue SE and Slaughterville Road where they received food and drinks and were told by the sheriff's deputies that as soon as the area had been cleared by the fire department, they would be escorted to check on their homes..

Firefighters were calling for more blankets for the evacuees as the evening cooled down because they had given out all they had.

Noble schoolchildren on two buses Thursday afternoon were delayed going home because of a fire in the area. None were injured, according to school officials.

"We did have two buses that had difficulties but they're all safe now," said Brenda Lee, administrative assistant.

One of the buses delivered some of the children before the bus route became unsafe, she said. The bus driver then brought the rest of the children back to the school to be picked up by their parents, she said.

The other bus was not able to deliver any children to their normal drop off points, but parents came out and met the bus halfway to pick up their children, Lee said.

All parents had been contacted by about 4:45 p.m. and had picked up their children or were on their way to the school to pick up their children.

The district has a system in place to protect students should there be danger along bus paths, Lee said. Buses are generally rerouted or brought back to school for parents to pick students up there, she said.

Norman firefighters, in addition to battling a house fire and several small grass fires in Norman Thursday, also lent mutual aid support to several other metro fire departments battling grass blazes whipped into infernos by the strong winds with gusts reaching more than 55 miles per hour.

"Norman firefighters also are assisting Macomb, Cedar Country and Midwest City fire departtments," said Norman Fire Chief James Fullingim. "We've had only small grass fires in Norman today, and responded to three downed power lines associated with the weather."

Fullinghim said five Norman firefighters were assisting Midwest City firefighters, four were assisting Macomb, and nine were assisting firefighting efforts at 180th and Banner Road. "Thirteen firefighers are assigned to the house fire at 1608 Iowa St.," he said.

City officials, on engineers' advice, are establishing a "clear zone" around the Financial Center building in downtown Norman when wind gusts threaten structural faults with the structure.

Transcript Staff Jerry Laizure, Julianna Parker Jones, Meghan McCormick and Tom Blakey contributed to this report