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One person died Wednesday in one of the largest forest fires in the country’s history. Texaswith an especially intense focus in the north of the state that firefighters struggled to control.
According to him Forest Service Texasfive fires still remained “active”, located in the northern part of this state, in the extreme south of the United States.
Another 18 accidents, in the north, northeast and east of Texas They were contained (still burning, but not moving forward), totaling 23. A dozen were already under control and were removed from the list.
Active fires have reached the area known as the Panhandle, named after the shape of this square area at the top of the map. Texas. The most recent report from the state Forest Service reported 418.5 thousand hectares of consumed areas.
The largest active focus so far, called Smokehouse Creek (north), As of Wednesday, it had burned around 344,000 hectares and was contained to just “3%” of its area. This is the second largest forest fire recorded in the state since 1988, according to official data.
In the city of Stinnet, near this major incident, the body of an 83-year-old woman was found, as Deidra Thomas, spokeswoman for Hutchinson County Emergency Management, to which the area belongs, told ABC on Wednesday. He stated that around 20 properties were destroyed by the fire.
Canadian, another of the cities close to the biggest fire, had several areas affected, although the population at risk had already been evacuated on Tuesday.
Your mayor, Terrill Bartlett, He told CNN on Wednesday that no one was “seriously injured.” “No one lost their life, but some houses were burned,” He explained.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said Tuesday that the Smokehouse Creek fire was moving at a rate of “two football fields per second.”
During Tuesday night, the main nuclear weapons factory in the United States, Pantex, located near one of the affected areas, had to temporarily stop its activities.
The company reported this Wednesday in X that it has resumed work normally and that its facilities are no longer threatened at the moment.
The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, reported that President Joe Biden was receiving updates on the incident and that they were in contact with frontline personnel.
The fire continues
“This morning the wind died down and the humidity increased. This stopped the progression of the fires. “Today (Wednesday) work will begin to increase fire containment,” The government of the city of Borger, another area close to the biggest incident, reported on its Facebook account.
Borger authorities shared images showing devastated and smoking areas, with several buildings engulfed in flames. Heavy machinery worked to contain the spread of the fires.
“Active fire continues and remember there are downed power lines and many of these areas remain dangerous. Please respect those who have lost property and homes and our first responders who continue to put out fires and work to contain the area,” he said. They detailed it in their report.
For its part, the city of Fritch, also in the area, remained without electricity or water and authorities urged the population to remain in shelters.
“Some of the houses are still on fire. There are areas where there may not be active fires, but the properties are damaged and we just can’t let them get in there.. “There are also ongoing search and rescue efforts,” spokeswoman Thomas previously said.
On Tuesday, strong winds accelerated the spread of several of these fires and carried smoke to Amarillo, where air quality was very poor. On Wednesday the winds were weaker.
Greg Abbott, governor of Texasannounced a natural disaster declaration for 60 counties on Tuesday, unlocking resources to fight the fires.
“Hot and dry conditions caused by high temperatures and winds are expected to continue in the region over the next few days. “These conditions could increase the potential for these wildfires to grow and become more dangerous.”, the governor said Tuesday.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
