Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

A violent firestorm struck Oklahoma on 14 March 2025. Despite adverse impacts across the state, the devastation may have been worse if not for the National Weather Service’s (NWS) demonstration of integrated multiagency operations to enhance decision-making and to protect lives and property. Six weeks before the outbreak, a statewide NWS integrated warning team (IWT) workshop was cohosted by the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) at the University of Oklahoma. The event introduced a multidisciplinary pilot project between the NWS and Oklahoma Forestry Services (OFS) and trained 175 fire and emergency management personnel on the use of satellite-based fire detections and tactical IWT fire warnings coordinated by meteorologists and fire analysts. Subsequently, an NWS meteorologist was embedded with OFS throughout the 2025 fire season. The collaboration contributed to interdisciplinary probabilistic wildfire outlooks that enabled the mobilization of aircraft and fire suppression resources from five assisting states on 11 March. Hours before the fires, OFS and CIWRO personnel integrated into NWS operations. Side-by-side, meteorologists used satellites to notify responders of emerging fires, while OFS analysts modeled potential fire spread and coordinated geotargeted NWS-disseminated fire warnings. These warnings provided public hazard messaging and informed downwind evacuations. Meanwhile, an NWS meteorologist at the state emergency operations center coordinated Wireless Emergency Alerts and briefed the governor. Preliminary analysis suggests that early satellite-based fire detections helped to save more than $810 million in property damage. Here, we document insights and challenges of NWS operations that were encountered during this consequential pilot demonstration.