{"id":104525,"date":"2024-02-29T00:03:24","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T00:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/devastating-texas-wildfires-spark-disaster-declaration-nuclear-plant-partial-evacuation\/"},"modified":"2024-02-29T00:03:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T00:03:24","slug":"devastating-texas-wildfires-spark-disaster-declaration-nuclear-plant-partial-evacuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/devastating-texas-wildfires-spark-disaster-declaration-nuclear-plant-partial-evacuation\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Devastating’ Texas wildfires spark disaster declaration, nuclear plant partial evacuation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(AMARILLO, Texas) — “Devastating” wildfires in Texas have prompted a disaster declaration for dozens of counties and evacuation orders in parts of the Texas Panhandle.<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott declared a disaster declaration for 60 counties on Tuesday due to “widespread wildfire activity throughout the state.” The largest of the blazes — the Smokehouse Creek Fire — is the second-largest wildfire in Texas history.<\/p>\n

The declaration will ensure that fire response resources are quickly deployed to “areas in the Texas Panhandle being impacted by devastating wildfires,” Abbott said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant in Amarillo has paused operations until further notice and evacuated nonessential personnel as a precaution due to the wildfires, according to an internal situation report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency obtained by ABC News.<\/p>\n

“All special materials are safe and unaffected,” according to the report.<\/p>\n

The facility is located approximately 13 miles from the Windy Deuce Fire in Moore County, one of several fires being monitored by the Texas A&M Forest Service.<\/p>\n

“Several large wildfires ignited under warm, dry and windy conditions across the Texas Panhandle,” the Texas A&M Forest Service said on social media Tuesday. “Today, strong winds will likely impact these wildfires and the potential for new ignitions remains.”<\/p>\n

Fires continued to impact mainly the central and eastern portions of the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n

The Smokehouse Creek Fire in Hutchinson County has grown to an estimated 850,000 acres and is 3% contained as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.<\/p>\n

There was “extreme fire behavior” associated with the wildfire on Tuesday, with wind gusts up to 60 mph and flames as high as 20 feet, a spokesperson for the agency told ABC News.<\/p>\n

The fire has crossed into northwestern Oklahoma, affecting several state and local highways and resulting in the evacuation of a hospital and nursing home in Shattuck, according to the DHS\/CISA report.<\/p>\n

The Windy Deuce Fire has burned an estimated 90,000 acres and was 25% contained as of Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said.<\/p>\n

“Fire behavior continues to be very active under the influence of high winds,” the Texas A&M Forest Service said on social media Tuesday.<\/p>\n

More than 40 houses were damaged in Fritch, a city located in Hutchinson and Moore counties, since Monday, the city said. Parts of the city have been evacuated.<\/p>\n

Mandatory evacuations were issued for several towns and communities in the Amarillo region on Tuesday. Several have since been lifted, including in Canadian and Skellytown.<\/p>\n

Several school districts were closed Wednesday due to the wildfires.<\/p>\n

Abbott warned that the wildfires could grow in the coming days as high temperatures and windy conditions continue.<\/p>\n

“Texans are urged to limit activities that could create sparks and take precautions to keep their loved ones safe,” he said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden has been receiving updates on the wildfires and White House officials are in “close contact” with state, local, and federal officials, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Forest Service and National Interagency Fire Center are providing assistance to the state, she said.<\/p>\n

“We urge everyone in the affected area to remain vigilant and heed the warnings of local officials, especially those who have been ordered to evacuate,” Jean-Pierre said.<\/p>\n

ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Amanda Maile contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images (AMARILLO, Texas) — “Devastating” wildfires in Texas have prompted a disaster declaration for dozens of counties and evacuation orders in parts of the Texas Panhandle. Gov. Greg Abbott declared a disaster declaration for 60 counties on Tuesday due to “widespread wildfire activity throughout theRead More →<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}