Charred vehicles sit at an auto body shop after the property was burned by the Smokehouse Creek Fire in Canadian, Texas, February 28, 2024. /CFP
One person has died as a result of wildfires in hard-hit Hutchinson County in the U.S. state of Texas, CNN reported Wednesday, citing a county official.
Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties and urged Texans "to limit activities that could create sparks and take precautions to keep their loved ones safe."
A cluster of wildfires scorched the Texas Panhandle on Wednesday, including a blaze that grew into one of the largest in state history, as flames moved with alarming speed and blackened the landscape across a vast stretch of small towns and cattle ranches.
Known as the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest blaze expanded to more than 3,370 square kilometers and jumped into parts of neighboring Oklahoma. The flames were only about 3 percent contained, Texas A&M Forest Service said on Thursday.
Smoke billows over a road during the Smokehouse Creek fire in the Texas panhandle, February 27, 2024. /CFP
Property damaged from a wildfire in the City of Borger, Texas, February 28, 2024. /CFP
Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes, AP reported.
The fires swept north of the U.S. Department of Energy's Pantex plant, the nation's primary nuclear weapons assembly, disassembly, and modification facility, located near Amarillo. The threat prompted authorities on Tuesday to cease operations at the site, evacuate personnel and build a fire barrier, according to updates Pantex posted on social media platform X.
On Wednesday, the plant was "open for normal day shift operations," it said.
The weather forecast provided some hope for firefighters - cooler temperatures, less wind and possibly rain on Thursday. But for now, the situation was dire in some areas.
Sustained winds of up to 72 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 113 kilometers per hour, caused the fires that were spreading east to turn south, threatening new areas, forecasters said. But winds calmed down after a cold front came through Tuesday evening, said Peter Vanden Bosch, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Amarillo.
Breezy conditions were expected again Friday, and fire-friendly weather could return by the weekend, Vanden Bosch said Wednesday.
The largest fire recorded in Texas history was the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire, which burned about 3,600 square kilometers and resulted in 13 deaths.
(With input from agencies)