Smokehouse Creek Wildfire, fueled by high winds and dry air since Monday afternoon, has burnt more than 1,075,000 acres and become the largest blaze in Texas history, the Texas A&M Forest Service updated on Thursday. Currently it is only 3 percent contained.
Joyce Blankenship, an 83-year-old grandmother from the town of Stinnett, died in her burned home on Wednesday, local media reported.
Another woman, Cindy Owen, was driving in Texas’ Hemphill County south of Canadian on Tuesday afternoon when flames overtook her, said Sgt. Chris Ray of Texas Department of Public Safety. She was sent to hospital and died Thursday morning.
The wildfires in the Texas Panhandle have spread to neighboring Oklahoma, where at least 12 fires were burning, covering more than 115,000 acres, reports said.
Heat and high winds will likely cause “critical fire weather conditions again” on the weekend, the National Weather Service in Amarillo, the largest city of the Texas Panhandle, said on Thursday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties and said more counties could be added.
Pantex Plant, a major nuclear weapons facility in the United States, suspended its operation Tuesday night in response to nearby wildfires in the Texas Panhandle. The plant assembles and disassembles the country’s nuclear arsenal.
According to Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, it’s estimated that cattle deaths would be in the thousands, with more likely to come
RHM/PR
