oklahomans fought back but often they were futile efforts. >> like dynamite going off. it gets scary out there. >> reporter: heat so intense it creates its own rare weather system. moisture-filled thunderstorms known as pyrocumulus clouds only abated when temperatures dropped and winds subsided. >> there was a room in that back corner -- >> reporter: after the fire had passed jeff pardoe and his son came to help a neighbor whose cabin is a pile of ashes. >> a lot of people lost a lot of the stuff. it's just heartbreaking. >> reporter: a neighbor whose son died two years ago suffere the worst in the ashes. tyler pardoe spoke to him. >> he lost every picture he had of his kid. so he has nothing to remember of his son that died. >> reporter: nearby, brothers keelan and kyler fish in a pond that demonstrates oklahoma's problem, heat and drought. in a normal year, they should be waist-deep in water. their father tries to put the best face on it. >> this is oklahoma.