A series of wildfires broke out across the Texas Panhandle early Wednesday morning, prompting evacuations, knocking out power to thousands and forcing the closure of nuclear weapons facilities amid high winds and dry grass. unseasonably warm temperatures gave fire to the flame.
In this photo provided by the Flower Mound, Texas Fire Department, Flower Mound firefighters respond to a fire in the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, February 27, 2024. A rapidly growing wildfire in Texas doubled in size on Tuesday, prompting evacuation orders for at least a year. A small town. (Flower Mound Fire Department via AP)
An unknown number of homes and other structures were damaged or destroyed in Hutchinson County, local emergency officials said. A major facility for assembling and dismantling America's nuclear weapons ceased operations Tuesday night.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we evacuated personnel and non-essential personnel from the site,” Raev Pendergraft, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration's Pantex Production Office, said at a news conference. Ta. “However, we have a fully equipped fire department that is trained for these scenarios and is on-site monitoring and preparing in case an actual emergency occurs on the plant property.”
Pantex is approximately 17 miles (27.36 kilometers) northeast of Amarillo and approximately 320 miles (515 kilometers) northwest of Dallas. Since 1975, it has been the primary assembly and disassembly site for U.S. atomic bombs. In 1991, while dismantling thousands of bombs, he assembled the last new type of bomb.
The largest fire, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, has burned nearly 400 square miles (1,040 square kilometers), prompting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to declare disaster for 60 counties, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. This is more than doubling in size since the fire broke out on Monday.
In this photo provided by the Flower Mound, Texas Fire Department, Flower Mound firefighters respond to a fire in the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, February 27, 2024. A rapidly growing wildfire in Texas doubled in size on Tuesday, prompting evacuation orders for at least a year. A small town. (Flower Mound Fire Department via AP)
Officials have not said what caused the fire, which ravaged the sparsely populated county surrounded by rolling plains.
“Texans are being asked to limit activities that could create sparks and take precautions to keep their loved ones safe,” Abbott said.
The weather forecast gave firefighters some hope. Thursday was expected to be cooler, with less wind and a chance of rain. But at this time, the situation was dire in some areas.
In Borger, a community of about 13,000 people about 25 miles (40.23 kilometers) north of Pantex, Hutchinson County emergency management services officials warned ahead of expected power outages and overnight temperatures in the 20s. , planned convoys to transport evacuees from one evacuation center to another.
Amid evacuation orders, county and city officials went live on Facebook and attempted to answer questions from panicked residents. Officials urged people to turn on emergency alerts on their cellphones and be ready to evacuate immediately. They explained that some roads were on fire on both sides and said resources were being stretched to their limits.
People posted about their streets and communities in Facebook chats in hopes of good news, but in many cases there was still no indication whether the area had been affected or what the area had become. The answer came back that no.
Texas Sen. Kevin Sparks said an evacuation order had been issued for Canadian, a town of about 2,000 people about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Amarillo. Late Tuesday, the Hemphill County Sheriff's Office asked anyone remaining in Canada to shelter in place or at a high school gymnasium due to road closures.
Evacuation orders were also issued in nearby Miami, and schools in Canada and Miami announced closures on Wednesday. Fire officials in Durham, Oklahoma, across the border in eastern Canada, also urged people to evacuate due to the blaze.
Evacuations are also in effect in Skellytown, Wheeler, Allison and Brisco, according to the National Weather Service in Amarillo.
Officials in the city of Pampa, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Canada, suggested on Facebook that residents evacuate south and said buses were available. Officials said Pampa residents may be able to return home as crews continued to extinguish the fire Tuesday night.
“We were able to stop the fire north of town,” a Bureau of Meteorology official said on X (formerly Twitter).
To the west, at least some residents of the small Hutchinson County city of Fritch were told to leave their homes Tuesday afternoon because of another fire that jumped a highway.
“All residents south of Highway 146 in Fritch evacuate now!” city officials said on Facebook.
The fire broke out Tuesday night 20 to 25 miles (32 to 40 kilometers) from Amarillo, and winds could blow wildfire smoke into the city, potentially impacting people with respiratory problems. Meteorological bureau officials said.
The National Weather Service said a combination of strong winds of more than 40 miles per hour (64 kph), warm temperatures, low humidity and dry winter vegetation created the perfect weather conditions for several other areas throughout the central part of the country. A Red Flag Warning and Fire Hazard Warning have been issued for the state. Forest fire.
In central Nebraska, A grass mower started a prairie fire. The fire destroyed a vast swath of grassland roughly the size of Omaha, the state's largest city, state officials said Tuesday.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Bauman in Bellingham, Washington, and Stephanie Dazio in Los Angeles contributed.
