Texas' governor on Tuesday issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties due to wildfires in the Panhandle, which have prompted advisories for residents in some areas to leave.
No deaths have been reported
from the fires
, which authorities say are being fueled by hot, dry conditions.
“Today I issued a disaster declaration to ensure that necessary fire response resources are rapidly deployed to areas of the Texas Panhandle affected by devastating wildfires,” Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement.
Flower Mound firefighters respond to a fire in the Texas Panhandle, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Flower Mound Fire Department via AP
Due to the accidents, the
main facility that assembles and dismantles the United States nuclear arsenal
interrupted its operations this Tuesday night in Texas.
Pantex posted a message on the social network X, in which it reported that all its staff were safe and that it had stopped operations until further notice.
“We have evacuated […] non-essential personnel from the site, just out of an abundance of caution,” declared Laef Pendergraft, spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration's Production Office at Pantex, during a press conference on Tuesday. at night.
"We have a well-equipped fire department that has trained for these scenarios and is on site, watching and ready in case any type of real emergency arises at the plant."
Since 1975, Pantex has been the main atomic bomb assembly and disassembly center in the United States.
It assembled the last of those bombs in 1991. Since then, it has dismantled thousands of weapons.
Pantex is located 30 miles east of Amarillo.
In Hutchinson County, northeast of Amarillo, a fire called Smokehouse Creek covered
about 250,000 acres
and was 0% contained Tuesday night, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, a state agency.
The fire broke out on Monday and, according to the forest service, was about 100,000 acres in size as of Tuesday morning.
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The National Weather Service on Tuesday described fire conditions in Hutchinson County as “critical,” with
very dry grass and maximum wind gusts of 65 mph
(104 km/h).
The Scotts Acres community in Stinnett, a town of about 1,600 people that is the center of Hutchinson County, was under a mandatory evacuation order Tuesday, officials said.
During the day the gas supply to the city was cut off, but it was later restored.
Video posted on social media from the Stinnett area showed cattle running across a field behind a vehicle, followed by smoke from the fires.
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Katlyn Butler testified that the video was of cattle being released to escape flames near the Turkey Track ranch east of Stinnett, Amarillo's NBC affiliate KAMR reported.
“We've been on fire for 24 hours
,” Butler said.
He added that “our ranch is alone since all the fire departments had to move to the city to save the communities.”
The city of Pampa suggested a voluntary evacuation Tuesday as firefighters battled a fire north of the city of about 16,000 people, but that measure was later lifted.
The efforts to extinguish the fires continued, the Government of Pampa reported on Facebook.
In Canadian, to the east, schools were canceled for Wednesday.
“I hope everyone is safe
,” Canadian Independent School District Superintendent Lynn Pulliam said in a message to the community.
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As of Tuesday afternoon, “red flag” warnings, indicating increased risk of wildfires, covered northwest and north Texas, most of Oklahoma and southwest Missouri, according to the weather service.
Warnings were also issued
for strong winds
in northwest Texas.
In addition to the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the Grape Vine Creek Fire, also in the Texas Panhandle, was about 30,000 acres and 20% contained.
Meanwhile, the Juliet Pass incident covered just over 2,900 acres and was 90% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
With information from
NBC News
and
The Associated Press