[6] Governor of Oklahoma Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency on July 30 due to the drought and wildfires.
Governor Fallin submitted a major disaster request to FEMA on September 17, 2012, for the period July 28 - August 14, 2012.
Joint Federal, State and local Preliminary Damage Assessments (PDAs) were conducted in the requested counties during September 18–24, 2012.
[b] Based on the PDAs, FEMA concluded that, "... the damage was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the combined capabilities of the state and affected local governments," and thus Federal assistance was denied.
[10] On August 4, 2012, a fire broke out near the community of Glencoe, in northern Payne County, Oklahoma that forced all of the residents to evacuate their homes.
Making the firefighters' work harder, the fire shut down Luther's municipal water pumps, forcing all residents to evacuate their homes.
"[13] Police said later that they had received reports that a man was seen throwing burning newspapers from the back of a truck in the area, and were treating the cause as possible arson.