Wildfire grows into one of largest in Texas history

CANADIAN, Texas (AP) — A cluster of wildfires scorched the Texas Panhandle on Wednesday, including a blaze that grew into one of the largest in state history, as flames moved with alarming speed and blackened the landscape across a vast stretch of small towns and cattle ranches.

Authorities warned that the damage to communities on the high plains could be extensive.

Known as the Smoke House Creek Fire, the largest blaze expanded to more than 1,300 square miles (3,367 square kilometres) and jumped into parts of neighbouring Oklahoma. It is now larger than the state of Rhode Island, and the Texas A&M Forest Service said the flames were only about 3 per cent contained.

The largest fire recorded in state history was the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire, which burned about 1,400 square miles and resulted in 13 deaths.

Authorities had not reported any deaths or injuries as of Wednesday morning while huge plumes of smoke billowed hundreds of feet in the air. But officials warned residents of potentially large property losses.

"There was one point where we couldn't see anything," said Greg Downey, 57, describing his escape from the flames as flames bore down on his neighbourhood. "I didn't think we'd get out of it."

"When we came out, the sky had gone black."

Hemphill County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Kendall described the charred terrain as being "like a moonscape. ... It's just all gone."

Kendall said about 40 homes were burned around the perimeter of the town of Canadian, but no buildings were lost inside the community.

"We started getting those losses in the dark, so we didn't really know what we had until this morning, until we could see," he said.

The town of Fritch, with a population of less than 2,000, lost hundreds of homes in a 2014 fire and appeared to be hit hard again.

The people in that area are probably not "prepared for what they're going to see if they pull into town," Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokesperson Deidra Thomas said in a social media livestream. She compared the damage to a tornado.

The town remained unsafe for people to return, she said.

Tresea Rankin videotaped her own home in the town of Canadian as it burned.

"Thirty-eight years of memories, that's what you were thinking," Rankin said of watching the flames destroy her house. "Two of my kids were married there ... But you know, it's OK, the memories won't go away."

Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes. Near Borger, a community of about 13,000 people, emergency officials at one point late Tuesday answered questions from panicked residents on Facebook and told them to get ready to leave if they had not already.

"It was like a ring of fire around Borger. There was no way out ... all four main roads were closed," said Adrianna Hill, 28, whose home was within about a mile of the fire. She said a wind that blew the fire in the opposite direction "saved our butts."

Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties.

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