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President Joe Biden addresses Texas Panhandle wildfires
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A minimum of two individuals have died as 5 wildfires rage throughout the Texas Panhandle, together with the biggest blaze in state historical past.
83-year-old Joyce Blankenship was discovered useless in her destroyed Hutchinson County residence, officers mentioned. On Thursday it was confirmed {that a} second girl – Cindy Owens – had succumbed to her accidents after getting out of her truck and being severely burned on Tuesday.
The Smokehouse Creek fireplace is now the biggest in state historical past, burning 1,075,000 acres, in line with the Texas A&M Forest Service. It’s now the second-largest fireplace in US historical past, native fireplace officers mentioned, and greater than 5 occasions the scale of New York Metropolis.
The wildfires spreading throughout the Texas Panhandle have burned greater than 1.2m acres of land, prompting evacuations and destroying dozens of houses.
The town of Fritch in Hutchinson County has been hit onerous this week, with a number of houses destroyed. The identical metropolis was hit by a devastating fireplace in 2014 that wrecked the city’s northern edge, whereas this week’s fireplace hit the south.
Snow additionally fell within the county on Thursday, overlaying newly scorched landscapes and destroyed houses.
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SEE IT: Satellite tv for pc footage of Smokehouse Creek fireplace quickly increasing
Katie Hawkinson1 March 2024 02:00
Second individual dies as results of Texas wildfires
A second individual has reportedly died because of the Texas wildfires.
The lady, named by authorities as Cindy Owens, was approaching fireplace and smoke whereas driving a truck in Canadian on Tuesday. She acquired out of the truck for an unknown purpose and “the fireplace merely overtook her,” in line with Sergeant Chris Ray of Texas Division of Public Security instructed NBC.
A passerby stopped and helped Owens, believed to be in her 40s, when she was burned by the fireplace and known as 911. She was taken to a burn unit in Oklahoma Metropolis, however died on Thursday morning.
“We nonetheless do not know why she acquired out of her truck,” Sergeant Ray instructed NBC.
Mike Bedigan1 March 2024 01:57
13 houses in Oklahoma broken by fires
The Smokehouse Creek fireplace, which unfold from the Texas panhandle on Tuesday, has now destroyed a minimum of 13 houses in Oklahoma.
That quantity might rise from final night time as crews proceed to survey harm from the spreading fireplace.
Katie Hawkinson1 March 2024 01:00
SEE IT: Infrared satellite tv for pc picture exhibits Texas fires burning
Infrared satellite tv for pc imagery exhibits burned areas in Texas Panhandle on Wednesday
(Satellite tv for pc picture ©2024 Maxar Tech)
Katie Hawkinson1 March 2024 00:00
WATCH: Joe Biden addresses Texas Panhandle wildfires
Joe Biden addresses Texas Panhandle wildfires
Katie Hawkinson29 February 2024 23:00
Volunteers main firefighting efforts in some Panhandle cities
A Hutchinson County official reminded residents that some cities within the Panhandle are being protected against fires by volunteer-based departments.
“I need to sort of reiterate in Fritch and Stinnett, each are volunteer-based fireplace departments,” a spokesperson with the Hutchinson County Workplace of Emergency Administration mentioned Thursday afternoon. “So these individuals would not have to do this. That’s them simply doing what they really feel like they should do for his or her neighborhood.”
Each cities had been hit onerous by the fires scorching 1.2m acres within the Texas Panhandle this week.
Katie Hawkinson29 February 2024 22:40
SEE IT: Satellite tv for pc footage of Smokehouse Creek fireplace quickly increasing
Katie Hawkinson29 February 2024 22:20
Earlier prescribed burns helped restrict flames this week
An official with the Hutchinson County, Texas Workplace of Emergency Providers mentioned prescribed burning helped stop this week’s fires from changing into worse.
“You’ll be able to see the place we did our prescribed burns beforehand, how, fortunately, our wildland workforce did that, as a result of that saved lots of people’s properties,” the spokesperson mentioned on a Fb reside video. “I do know we couldn’t save all the things.”
Late final yr, Texas officers carried out a prescribed burn in Hutchinson County, which prevented this week’s fires from spreading into the southern components of the city of Borger, CNN studies.
Prescribed burns are fires deliberately set in managed areas to destroy fireplace fuels like dried-out grass and leaves. Indigenous communities have used this follow for millennia and have lengthy advocated for the US authorities to undertake it in fire-vulnerable areas.
Katie Hawkinson29 February 2024 22:00
ICYMI: Nuclear weapon manufacturing facility pressured to evacuate as Texas wildfires threaten plant
Pantex Plant, the principle facility that assembles and disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal, shut down its operations on Tuesday night time because the Windy Deuce fireplace roared in the direction of the Potter County location.
Katie Hawkinson29 February 2024 21:40
Charred houses, blackened earth after Texas city revisited by damaging wildfire 10 years later
The small city of Fritch is once more selecting via the rubble of a Texas wildfire, a decade after one other damaging blaze burned a whole bunch of houses and left deep scars within the Panhandle neighborhood.
Residents in and round Fritch and different rural cities fled for security Tuesday afternoon as excessive winds whipped the flames into residential areas and thru cattle ranches.
Fritch Mayor Tom Ray mentioned on Wednesday the city’s northern edge was hit by a devastating wildfire in 2014, whereas this week’s blaze burned principally to the south of the city, sparing the residents who reside within the coronary heart of the neighborhood.
Katie Hawkinson29 February 2024 21:20
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