My understanding is that it started out as a "controlled" burn.
Went to a friend's house 1 day, and his neighbor had a "controlled burn" of some winter wheat stubble. Well, the wind came up really high, and it made the most goshawful fire I've seen in my life. 15-20 acres of wheat stubble burned in about 15 minutes. It was burning so violently it made an unearthly humming/vibrating/screeching sound. If there would have been any buildings near that field, they would have simply disappeared.
