A fast-moving wildfire burning through the Texas Panhandle grew into the second-largest blaze in state history Wednesday, forcing evacuations and triggering power outages as firefighters struggled to contain the widening flames.
The sprawling blaze was part of a cluster of fires that burned out of control and threatened rural towns, where local officials shut down roads and urged residents to leave their homes. The largest of the fires — which grew to nearly 800 square miles (2,072 square kilometers) — jumped into parts of neighboring Oklahoma and was completely uncontained as dawn broke, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
Officials were assessing the damage Wednesday and warned it could be extensive. Hemphill County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Kendall described the charred terrain “like a moonscape. … It’s just all gone.”
Kendall said about 40 homes were burned around the perimeter of the town of Canadian, but no buildings were lost inside the community.