Rapidly expanding wildfires in the Texas Panhandle
A rapidly widening Texas wildfire more than doubled in size Tuesday and prompted evacuation orders in small towns.
A massive wildfire more than quadrupled in size in the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, as high winds and dry conditions fueled several big fires in the region, prompting a state disaster declaration and shutting down the nation’s primary nuclear weapons facility.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire, burning between Canadian and Stinnett, exploded in size Tuesday, growing from 40,000 acres to 200,000 acres in just six hours. The fire had burned over more than 400 square miles, an area more than 100 square miles larger than New York City.
The intense blazes in Texas were among several wild weather events occurring Tuesday, including tornadoes in Illinois and a swath of record-high temperatures in the eastern half of the nation.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties to enable critical resources to be deployed to the wildfires. The Smokehouse Creek fire is the largest of four large fires burning in the region, but they are among 13 fires that started on Monday.
Fire warnings and evacuations are in effect in many locations, the National Weather Service in Amarillo reported Tuesday night. Strong winds gusting ahead of a cold front moving across the nation were gusting to 50 mph in the region.
Juan Rodriguez, a public information officer with the Texas A&M Forest Service, described a dangerous, rapidly changing situation in an update to the National Interagency Coordination Center.
Pantex Plant shut down
One fire in Potter County prompted the shut down of the Pantex Plant, the nation’s primary nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility, about 17 miles northeast of Amarillo.
Plant officials said on X that personnel were building a fire barrier to protect plant facilities and that all weapons and special materials on the site were “safe and unaffected.”
The plant evacuated its non-essential personal at 6:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday.
The plant performs research and development in high explosives and serves as an interim storage site for plutonium pits removed from dismantled weapons, according to the Department of Energy. The roughly 16,000-acre site, which includes a huge buffer zone, is jointly operated by a contractor and Sandia National Laboratory on land owned by the energy department and Texas Tech University, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
Texas wildfires force evacuations, respiratory warnings
Mandatory evacuations are in effect in more than a half dozen Texas towns, the weather service said. The city of Canadian had been asked to shelter in place and several agencies were sending crews to help protect structures against the advancing flames, according to one of the coordination center updates. By evening, fire crews had been able to place a control line around Canadian to try to protect the town, but officials also warned that the fire had shown the ability to send burning embers over long distances.
Though the fire is 20 to 25 miles north of Amarillo, Texas, strong north winds are blowing a blanket of smoke into Amarillo, creating hazardous conditions for those with respiratory conditions, the weather service said.
Texas has seen record-high temperatures this week and parts of the Panhandle are “abnormally dry,” according to the National Drought Monitor. Sixty-three counties in the state have burn bans in place, according to the fire service.
Large fires also are burning in Nebraska and Oklahoma. Evacuations were in effect in Northwestern Oklahoma, where one Texas wildfire doubled in size and crossed into the state on Tuesday, reported The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Other wildfires also had been reported in the state over the past few days.
Where is the Smokehouse Creek Fire?
The Smokehouse Creek fire started Monday afternoon in the central Panhandle, one mile north of Sinnett, Texas, fueled by tall, dry grasses,…
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