Authorities in Texas are battling multiple wildfires in the state's panhandle spanning tens of thousands of acres as warm, dry conditions facilitate the spread of the blazes.
Maps produced by the Texas A&M Forest Service show there are four active wildfires to the north and east of Amarillo, as well as two that have been contained.
According to the latest figures, the largest is the Smokehouse Creek fire, which broke out near the town of Stinnett, to the northeast of Lake Meredith. As of late Monday night, it spanned 40,000 acres and was entirely uncontained.
Another fire, dubbed the Grape Vine Creek fire, broke out near the town of Lefors, to the southeast of Pampa, and now spans 20,000 acres. As of Monday night it was 10 percent contained.
"Dozers are building containment line while firefighters conduct tactical firing operations to strengthen lines and slow fire spread," Texas A&M Forest Service said.
Local news channel KVII reported that officials in Wheeler County had warned residents living near the fire that they might need to evacuate, but evacuations were not needed as the forward progression of the fire had stopped.
A third fire, which also appears to have begun on Monday, is the Windy Deuce Fire, to the east of Masterson and west of Lake Meredith, which has so far spread across at least 4,000 acres and is 5 percent contained.
"Firefighters are working on the north side of the fire to slow spread," the state forestry agency noted. "Heavy equipment is building containment lines around the perimeter."
It sits near the site of the North CIG fire, which broke out on Saturday and reached across 4,012 acres before being completely contained.
The fourth active wildfire, to the south of Claude in Armstrong County, dubbed the Juliet Pass fire, remains active after breaking out earlier on Monday and is currently 90 percent contained at 2,963 acres.
A sixth wildfire in the region, immediately to the south of Amarillo, reached three acres before being contained.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned on Monday that there was a critical risk of fire across the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, as well as southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Kansas and southwest Colorado.
The weather agency's station said that warming temperatures would dry out grasslands while strong winds would help carry fires that broke out, creating ideal conditions for wildfires.
Though the area under critical threat is expected to shrink to cover the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma on Tuesday, conditions will remain favorable for facilitating wildfires, with winds gusting up to 65 miles an hour, no chance of precipitation and temperatures reaching a high of 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Critical fire weather conditions are possible again next weekend," the NWS added.
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Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
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