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Wildfires in Texas, February/March 2024

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Wildfires in Texas, February/March 2024

At least two people have died in the wildfires in the northwest of the US state of Texas.

Source: Keystone/David Erickson

At least two people have been killed in the wildfires in the northwest of the US state of Texas.

A woman was found dead in her home in the Hemphill district near the city of Canadian, American broadcaster CNN reported on Thursday evening (local time), citing a spokesperson for the Public Safety Authority.

In addition, flames continued to destroy homes and livestock Thursday in the region, which is about 350 miles northwest of Dallas and is also called the Panhandle because of its geographic shape. More than 85 percent of the livestock raised in Texas are raised there, CNN agriculture experts say.

The first fatality, an 83-year-old woman in Hutchinson County, was confirmed by authorities Thursday. Both women died in the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the region’s largest wildfires. The fire has now spread to more than a million hectares (more than 4,000 square kilometers) and extends east into neighboring Oklahoma.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire is now the largest wildfire in the state’s history, CNN reported. On the Texas side, the flames are only 3 percent contained, the Texas Forest Service said Thursday in its latest situation report. In Oklahoma, the fire had already burned more than 31,500 acres (about 127 square kilometers) but was 40 percent contained as of Thursday evening, a Forest Service spokesperson there told CNN.

Dry air and high winds fueled the Smokehouse Creek Fire on Tuesday and caused it to “explode in size,” according to CNN. Rain and snowfall provided some relief on Thursday. But forecasts for the weekend suggested strong winds could blow again. Other, smaller fires in the state were fully or partially contained, according to the Texas Forest Service.

(rbu/sda/dpa)