US: Texas Towns Evacuated As Raging Wildfires Destroy Homes

Seven wildfires were raging in the US state of Texas, authorities said Wednesday, as properties were destroyed and multiple evacuation orders were issued. The enormous blaze has already scorched some 850,000 acres.

After harsh winds and unseasonably warm temperatures, the state was tracking 25 wildfires, 18 of which were contained as of Wednesday afternoon. Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday declared a state of disaster for 60 counties, while blazes near the northern city of Amarillo temporarily caused the shutdown of a nuclear weapons plant.

In Canadian, one of the towns closest to the fire, there were “quite a few homes burned,” Mayor Terrill Bartlett told CNN, but “luckily, no one was severely injured.” According to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, the fire was moving at a rate of two football fields per second. The National Weather Service in Amarillo, the biggest regional city, said Wednesday that cool temperatures “with weak winds” were expected, which authorities hope will aid them in fighting the fires.

In the town of Borger, authorities shared images of smoldering areas that had been devastated, including several buildings consumed by flames. Town officials said they had opened a shelter for those displaced, while evacuation orders were issued for much of the nearby town of Fritch, large swaths of which have lost electricity and water.

“I don’t think a lot of folks that live in the Fritch area are probably going to be prepared for what they’re going to see as they pull into town,” Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokeswoman Deidra Thomas said in a video update posted on Facebook earlier in the day. President Joe Biden meanwhile was receiving updates on the incident and the White House was in contact with frontline staff, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. Amarillo experienced serious air quality issues as winds pushed smoke into the area on Tuesday.

(With agency inputs)