Severe drought set the stage for the fires, which authorities believe were started mostly by people shooting off fireworks, tossing cigarettes or burning trash in spite of bans imposed because of the drought. A fallen power line apparently started one Oklahoma blaze.
Rainfall this year in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of North Texas, where most of the fires broke out, is about 41cm below the average of about 89cm, National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Moller said.
"The last time we had something quite this bad, you got to go back to about 1956, when we had 18.55 inches [47cm]," Moller said.
The weather service's long-term forecasts show the drought intensifying through early next year.
Oklahoma has received about 61cm of rain this year, about 30cm less than normal.
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