Texas Residents Rush to Help Fire Department as Wildfire Spreads

Texas residents are rushing to help their local volunteer fire department as a series of devastating wildfires spread across the state panhandle early on Wednesday morning.

Widespread wildfires consuming thousands of acres began to spark on Monday throughout Texas. Authorities haven't identified the cause, according to a report by the Associated Press, but multiple red flag warnings were in place across the state advising people against outdoor burning because there was a high risk of the fires growing out of control due to abnormally high temperatures and low humidity.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest of the fires, has more than doubled in size since it began on Monday. Many volunteer firefighters are working tirelessly to douse the blazes, and Zeb Smith, the fire chief at a volunteer department in Fritch, Texas, told Fox News' Fox & Friends on Wednesday that "a lot of people in town" are rushing to help.

Many of the firefighters have been up for more than 28 hours fighting the fires since many of them were helping a neighboring community before the fires reached Fritch, Smith said.

"There's a lot of people that volunteered to come up and helped us," Smith said. "As the sun comes up, I think we will see more people coming out trying to help."

Newsweek reached out to the Fritch Volunteer Fire Department by email for comment.

In addition to volunteering for the department, people also are seeking ways to help the fire department by donating funds or gifting food.

On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties in response to the wildfires. Abbott also ordered the Texas Division of Emergency Management to activate additional state emergency response resources to support the local firefighters.

Smith said that fire departments required extra resources.

Winds should begin to calm by Thursday, potentially bringing a respite for the firefighters working against the blazes. Temperatures also are expected to drop, and approaching rain could aid the firefighters' efforts.

The fires have grown so large that they are now visible on a weather satellite.

"I've never seen anything like this," SpaceWeatherNews founder Ben Davidson posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday afternoon. "There is an absurd wildfire in north Texas. It is visible on the CIRA Fire detector on the GOES 16 weather satellite. The breadth of this can not be correct, right? That's way too big."