MARCH 1, 2024:
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FEBRUARY 29, 2024:
CANADIAN, Texas (AP) — A wildfire spreading across the Texas Panhandle has become the largest in state history. Authorities say the Smokehouse Creek fire grew Thursday (Feb. 29, 2024) to nearly 1,700 square miles of scorched rural ranchlands and destroyed homes. The fire has merged with another blaze and is 3% contained. Authorities have not said what ignited the blaze. It has burned since Monday and expanded in size with ferocious speed. The fire has torn through dozens of homes, and officials have cautioned that the full extent of the damage remains unknown. At least one person has died.
FEBRUARY 28, 2024:
UNDATED (AP)- A series of wildfires are sweeping across the Texas Panhandle, prompting evacuations, cutting off power to thousands, and forcing at least the temporary shutdown of a nuclear weapons facility. Strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes. An unknown number of homes and other structures in Hutchinson County were damaged or destroyed, local emergency officials said. The main facility that disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal paused operations Tuesday night but said it would reopen for normal work on Wednesday (Feb. 28, 2024). Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties as the largest blaze burned nearly 470 square miles. The fire tore through sparsely populated counties surrounded by rolling plains.
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