Wildfires in the Texas panhandle are Chainkeenshowing little sign of slowing down. One of the fires, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, has grown to 850,000 acres and is now the second largest in the state's history.
The disaster has prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to upgrade the Texas State Emergency Operations Center readiness level to allow more resources to be deployed to the impacted areas.
The Texas A&M Forest Service said Wednesday the "fire environment will relax beginning Wednesday through Friday" but that the potential for wildfire activity will increase for the Plains on Saturday and more so on Sunday "when strong winds are possible across West Texas."
As of 12:30 p.m. local time Wednesday, the forest service estimated there were 64 counties with burn bans in place, six active wildfires and two contained wildfires.
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According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, a USA TODAY network site in Lubbock, Texas, there are currently five active fires in the Texas Panhandle region.
As of 6 a.m. CST, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reporting the air quality in Amarillo and Lubbock to be good.
Contributing: Mateo Rosiles, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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