A 44-year-old truck driver died Thursday at an Oklahoma City hospital.
Houston, USA:
Texas emergency crews were struggling Thursday to contain the largest wildfire in the U.S. state’s history, which spiraled out of control, killing at least two people and burning 1 million acres.
An unusually hot winter and fierce winds have fueled five major fires that are actively burning in the northern region of the state, known as the Texas Panhandle, the Texas A&M Forest Service said.
The largest fire, the Smokehouse Creek fire that started Monday, has reached a record 1,075,000 acres (435,000 hectares) but is only 3% contained, the Forest Service said.
As Smokehouse Creek merges with another fire, it now becomes the state’s largest wildfire ever, surpassing the 2006 East Amarillo Complex disaster that burned 907,000 acres.
A 44-year-old truck driver died Thursday at an Oklahoma City hospital after she was rescued Tuesday near her truck that was engulfed in smoke in Smokehouse Creek, several local media reported, citing Texas Department of Public Safety officials. .
A spokesperson for Hutchinson County Emergency Services told ABC News that while precautionary evacuations were ordered at multiple locations, the body of an 83-year-old woman was found in Stinnett.
She also said about 20 buildings in Stinnett were razed by the fire.
A 120-year-old Texas ranch said 80% of its 32,000 acres near the largest fire area was burned.
“We believe the loss of livestock, crops and wildlife, as well as ranch fencing and other infrastructure, as well as other ranches and homes throughout the region, is unprecedented in our history,” managers of Turkey Orbit Ranch said in a post on its website. in a statement.
Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties on Tuesday, a move that freed up resources to fight the fires.
President Joe Biden told reporters during a visit to the southern border that 500 federal personnel were fighting fires in Texas.
“I’m directing my team to do everything possible to help protect people in communities threatened by these fires,” Biden said, pledging federal support to Texas and neighboring Oklahoma while also slamming Those who deny climate change.
“I love that some of my Neanderthal friends still think climate change doesn’t exist,” he said.
Cities across the U.S. and Canada hit record high temperatures in February, with some experiencing summer-like heat. In addition to climate change, experts say El Niño weather patterns are also at play.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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