Fire crews in west Texas hoped to make progress yesterday against a massive complex of wildfires that have killed one person and burned at least 50 homes, officials said.
Winds were expected to diminish yesterday, raising hopes for the attack on the flames, said Angel Lopez, a spokesman for the task force attacking the wildfire complex near Eastland, about 190km west of Dallas.
However, gusty winds were expected to return today, again raising the wildfire threat to critical levels in western and central Texas, he said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott told a news conference in Eastland on Friday that at least 50 homes had been destroyed by flames with more possibly to be found.
He declared a disaster in the 11 counties hardest hit by the wildfires.
The Texas A&M Forest Services warned that fires could also affect parts of Oklahoma and Kansas, and Nebraska warned of an extreme fire risk.
The Eastland County Sheriff’s Office said Deputy Sergeant Barbara Fenley was unaccounted for since she was on Thursday going door to door, getting residents to evacuate their homes.
It was “last heard that she was going to check on an elderly individual,” it said.
“With the extreme, deteriorating conditions and low visibility from smoke, Fenley ran off the roadway and was engulfed in the fire,” it said.
As of Friday afternoon, the fires had burned about 330km2, including about 185km2 in the Eastland Complex alone, the forest service said.
The fires in that complex were only 4 percent contained late on Friday, with fires burning in thick brush and grass fields.
About 475 homes were evacuated in Gorman, forest service spokesman Matthew Ford said.
Several months of dry, windy weather have fueled deadly wildfires in Kansas and Oklahoma, including one a few weeks ago. In remote western Nebraska ranching country, a large wildfire has been burning for several days.
Meteorologists said they were hopeful that rain showers expected early next week would reduce the risk.
“We’ve been so dry that even an inch of rain would make a difference,” said Robb Lawson, a US National Weather Service meteorologist in Wichita, Kansas.
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