Four deaths blamed on west Texas wildfires

The largest fire burned about 545 square miles in Clark County in southwest Kansas.

And a wildfire in Kansas is prompting evacuations. He, Sydney Wallace and Cody Crockett died trying to save livestock Monday night from flames fueled by 50 miles per hour wind gusts.

Peet says Wallace may have tried to run at the last moment Monday evening but she couldn’t escape the smoke. My High Plains says two of the firefighters are in critical condition, one is burned, and the fourth has a fracture.

Sloan Everett, another rancher, also died in Gray County. The bodies of all three were found close to one another. Cade Koch, 25, died in Lipscomb County, according to the Globe-News. Holt got out of the semi but could not escape the overwhelming smoke. This will result in less threatening fire weather conditions. The Texas Panhandle, eastern Colorado and western Kansas may miss out on that.

Horner said it would be several weeks before the damage could be fully assessed, but she confirmed that one person had been killed, along with an untold number of livestock in several counties.

Other wildfires have claimed one life in Kansas and another in Oklahoma.

Bill Bunting is chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Peet said winds of more than 55 miles per hour fanned the flames.

But wildfires, which are started by human activity or lightning strikes, are burning more land.

Firefighters continue to battle wildfires in Amarillo, Texas, and surrounding areas in the panhandle.

Shortly after noon, the Grant County teams set out to southeastern Harper County, the location of the Selman fire which, according to the Oklahoma Emergency Management, has scorched more than 47,000 acres.

Almost 300 people were force to leave their homes.

Fires in the Texas Panhandle region killed at least five people. It consumed more than 350,000 acres and is now about 50 percent contained.

Oklahoma Forestry Service spokeswoman Suzanne McCombs said those fires remained uncontained as of Wednesday.

TFS officials say an additional single engine airtanker has been ordered and should be in Amarillo today, joining the two airtankers already being used.

An update from the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said that eight fire-related breathing complications had been reported to hospitals in the area.

Retiree Sheryl Stessen said she grabbed her cat and bolted from her apartment on the outskirts of Hutchinson when she saw the fire quickly go from looking like a puff of smoke to a big, orange ball. Forecasters said conditions were also ripe for fires in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska.

Another 235 square miles burned in neighboring Comanche County in Kansas, with smaller areas of burned land from separate fires spread among six other counties.

More than 70 firefighters from 13 departments battled the blaze, which was reported east of Sterling on Monday morning. In northern Colorado, a fire in Logan and Phillips counties has burned about 30,000 acres (12,000 hectares) and destroyed five homes.

There are now 12 wildfires burning in various locations through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The largest fire burned an estimated 390 square miles in Beaver County before moving north into Kansas.

Three people died Monday while working on a ranch in Texas.

On Wednesday (March 8), Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 22 counties.