UPDATE: Friday, March 2, 2012

Crews are working to contain a propane leak at a fuel-storage plant that prompted a voluntary evacuation advisory for a small northern Oklahoma town.

The American Red Cross says two people checked into a shelter in nearby Wakita on Thursday. Schools in Medford are closed Friday.

The leak started Tuesday at the ONEOK plant 2.5 miles south of town. ONEOK spokeswoman Megan Washbourne says crews are working to fix the leak but they don't know when it will be contained. Washbourne says the vapors are at a "low and very safe level."

Shifting winds pushed the vapors toward Medford on Thursday. Officials worried the vapors could pose a fire risk if a pocket of propane ignited. ONEOK maintains the propane level is too low to be flammable.

UPDATE: Thursday, March 1, 2012

Town officials in Medford, Okla., are advising residents to leave because of a propane leak at a hydrocarbon plant.

Gas has been leaking from the ONEOK plant since Tuesday night, and strong winds Thursday are carrying the gas toward the town of 1,000 people near the Kansas border.

A shelter is being set up at nearby Wakita, which is outside the danger area. American Red Cross spokesman Rusty Surette says residents should bring clothes, bedding, medication and identification.

The leak had shut down U.S. 81 through the area of north-central Oklahoma, but town leaders asked residents to leave because of the wind shift. It is not mandatory that people leave.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

U.S. Highway 81 in Medford, Okla. remains closed as propane continues to leak from a ONEOK hydrocarbon plant near the Grant County town.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesman Cole Hackett says the highway will remain shut down at least through the day Thursday and will not reopen before Thursday night or Friday morning. City spokesman Dea Kretchmar has said that the highway was shut down about 9 p.m. Tuesday when the gas began leaking.

ONEOK spokeswoman Megan Washbourne said gas continued to leak from the plant Thursday — but that air monitoring found no health risk to the public. Washbourne said investigators found no need to evacuate the town of nearly 1,000 in northern Oklahoma — about 120 miles north of Oklahoma City.