The second-largest wildfire in Texas history raged across the state along with several other major blazes on Wednesday, prompting evacuations, destroyed homes and the temporary closure of the nation's main nuclear weapons facility.
The fires started on Monday but spread quickly the next day as strong winds, dry conditions and unusually high temperatures fueled rapid growth. By Wednesday, the largest fire, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, had spread across 850,000 acres — about 1,300 square miles — across several counties and into neighboring Oklahoma. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire, slightly larger than Rhode Island, is among the largest wildfires the state has ever seen, coming after the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fires that killed 12 people and burned more than 900,000 acres.
To the south, the Windy Deuce Fire burned 90,000 acres of land. The fire was 25% contained as of Wednesday afternoon. Another fire, the Grapevine Creek Fire, northeast of Amarillo, Texas, has burned 30,000 acres and is 60% contained, according to the National Wildfire Coordination Group.
The authorities did not mention the cause of the fires that swept through sparsely populated provinces amid vast, high plains.. No injuries or deaths were reported, but countless buildings were destroyed.
About 40 homes burned around the rural town of Candian, northeast of Amarillo, Texas, said Bill Kendall, emergency management coordinator for Hemphill County. The charred terrain looked “like a moonscape,” Kindle said.
Tricia Rankin photographed her house burning in Canada. “Thirty-eight years of memories, that's what you were thinking,” Rankin said. “Two of my children got married there…but you know, it's okay, the memories won't go away.”
The severe fires in Texas were among several extreme weather events occurring across the country, including tornadoes in Illinois and a set of record high temperatures in the eastern half of the country.
Temperatures are expected to drop throughout the Texas Panhandle throughout the day Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Rain and snow are expected on Thursday before temperatures rise again, meteorologists say.
Developments:
∎ The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality required Fritch's public water system to notify all customers to boil water before using it due to a “loss of electricity that caused a drop in distribution system pressure,” according to a Facebook post by the city. .
∎ The wildfires left thousands of people without electricity. According to a database maintained by USA TODAY, more than 18,000 utility customers in Texas were without power Wednesday afternoon.
∎ Many major roads and highways in the Texas Panhandle, which were closed Tuesday as wildfires rapidly expanded, remain closed.
∎ Sid Miller, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned” about the impact of the wildfires on the state's agricultural industry. “We stand in solidarity with our farmers and ranchers who are facing loss and devastation,” Miller said. “Our thoughts are with them during this difficult time, and we are committed to supporting their recovery efforts every step of the way.”
“Some houses were completely lost.”
Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokesperson Deidra Thomas responded Questions from residents During a Facebook Live broadcast on Wednesday, she said many homes in Fritsch, a small city 35 miles north of Amarillo, were completely destroyed and the area remains unsafe.
“I don't think a lot of people who live in the Fritch area would probably be prepared for what they're going to see as they pull back into the city,” she said. “Some houses have been completely lost…”
Thomas said the main road to Fritch was full of residents who were not allowed into the city because fires were still active in many areas, especially across the south.
“They can't even see house numbers,” she said of first responders, adding that emergency officials are focused on damage control and assessment. “We haven't had the opportunity to assess all the damage and decide where to start.”
Multiple towns and cities remain under evacuation orders
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties to enable the deployment of critical resources to areas affected by wildfires. The Smokehouse Creek Fire is the largest fire to hit the region, but it is among the fires 13 fires started Monday.
While some residents have been told they can return to their homes, several towns are still subject to mandatory evacuations. The Smokehouse Creek Fire forced evacuations in cities in Hemphill County, located about a hundred miles northeast of Amarillo. Many school districts across the country canceled classes for Wednesday.
Pantex factory reopens after temporary closure
Windy Deuce Fire Started Pantex Plant – The The nation's main nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility — about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo — will be closed and evacuated Tuesday evening. The factory said in a post on the X website that fire barriers were built to “protect the factory facilities.”
The facility announced Wednesday that it will open for normal operations.
The plant conducts research and development in high explosives and serves as a temporary storage site for plutonium pits removed from dismantled weapons, according to the Department of Energy. The roughly 16,000-acre site, which includes a massive buffer zone, is operated jointly by a contractor and Sandia National Laboratory on land owned by the Department of Energy and Texas Tech University, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
Texas wildfires force evacuations and respiratory warnings
Mandatory evacuations are in effect in more than six cities in Texas, the weather service said. The Canadian city was told to shelter in place, and several agencies sent crews to help protect structures from the rising flames, according to a coordination center update. By Tuesday evening, fire crews were able to set up a control line around Canada to try to protect the city, but officials also warned that the fire showed the ability to send burning embers long distances.
Although the fire was 20 to 25 miles north of Amarillo, Texas, strong northerly winds were blowing a blanket of smoke over Amarillo, creating dangerous conditions for those with respiratory illnesses, the weather service said.
Wildfire smoke map: Track fires and red flag warnings across the United States
Large fires are also burning in Nebraska and Oklahoma. The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network, reports evacuations are in effect in northwest Oklahoma, where a Texas wildfire has doubled in size and moved into the state on Tuesday.
Other forest fires have also been reported in the state over the past few days.
Contributing: The Associated Press
