CANADIAN, Texas – A series of wildfires in the Texas Panhandle has devastated communities in at least 60 counties this week, and one of them has swelled to become the second-largest in state history.
Terrifying videos posted by first responders and residents show the intensity of the flames and smoke as residents try to evacuate.
“My town is in danger and it’s burning,” Tara Huff with The Eagle Press, a local newspaper, said in a video posted on Facebook. The Eagle Press is based in Fritch, northwest of Amarillo.
“Frankly, I’m just gonna say I’m sad right now.”
The wildfires cut off power to thousands and forced the brief shutdown of a nuclear weapons facility as strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes.
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Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties as the main blaze, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, grew to 500,000 acres on Wednesday morning. The main facility that disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal paused operations Tuesday night but said it was open for normal work on Wednesday.
Courtney Kirksey, the children’s pastor at Celebration Family Church in Fritch, said some people “lost everything” and the flames were “so unpredictable.”
Her church helped shelter people who evacuated on Tuesday. Watch part of her interview with CNN in the video below.
Elsewhere, the Texas A&M Forest Service posted dramatic videos and images from the scene.
This video posted by the Texas A&M Forest Service, seen below, shows the Smokehouse Creek Fire in Hutchinson County.
Authorities have not said what might have caused the blaze, which tore through sparsely populated counties set amid vast, high plains punctuated by cattle ranches and oil rigs.
The weather forecast provided some hope for firefighters — cooler temperatures, less wind and possibly rain on Thursday. But for now, the situation was dire in some areas.
View more videos of the wildfires in the Texas Panhandle below: