Multiple wildfires are spreading across the Texas Panhandle, so far burning 580,000 acres of land, prompting massive evacuations and forcing a major nuclear weapons plant to shut down.
The northernmost Smokehouse Creek fire is 0 per cent contained as of early Wednesday morning and is estimated to be 500,000 acres, making it the second-largest blaze in state history. Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties on Tuesday as the fire doubled in size in a single day.
Meanwhile, the smaller Grape Vine Creek fire is 60 per cent contained, while the Magenta fire is 40 per cent contained.
The 687 Reamer and Windy Deuce remain at 10 per cent and 20 per cent containment, respectively.
In Potter County, the spread of the Windy Deuce fire caused the Pantex Plant – which is America’s main facility for assembling and disassembling nuclear weapons – to briefly close operations on Tuesday night. The plant resumed normal operations Wednesday morning.
Dry and windy conditions amid unseasonably warm temperatures fuelled these fires. Drought conditions are not contributing — much of the panhandle has no drought, with portions of the western panhandle considered “abnormally dry” or in “moderate drought.”