Amid hot an dry conditions, massive wildfire more than quadrupled in size erupted in the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, as high winds and dry conditions fuelled several big fires in the region.
The fire has prompted a state disaster declaration and shutting down the nation’s primary nuclear weapons facility, USA Today reported.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire, burning between Canadian and Stinnett, exploded in size Tuesday, growing from 40,000 acres to 200,000 acres in just six hours.
The fire had burned over more than 400 square miles, an area more than 100 square miles larger than New York City.
The intense blazes in Texas were among several wild weather events occurring Tuesday, including tornadoes in Illinois and a swath of record-high temperatures in the eastern half of the nation.
Meanwhile, the Texas governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties to enable critical resources to be deployed to the wildfires. The Smokehouse Creek fire is the largest of four large fires burning in the region, but they are among 13 fires that started on Monday.
Fire warnings and evacuations are in effect in many locations, the National Weather Service in Amarillo reported Tuesday night. Strong winds gusting ahead of a cold front moving across the nation were gusting to 50 mph in the region.
Juan Rodriguez, a public information officer with the Texas A&M Forest Service, described a dangerous, rapidly changing situation in an update to the National Interagency Coordination Center.
