Texas A&M Forest Service/Anadolu via Getty
Wildfires raged across the Texas panhandle on Wednesday, prompting a disaster declaration from Gov. Greg Abbott and evacuation orders across the state, and leaving thousands without power.
The second largest blaze in state history was burning in Hutchinson County, where the Smokehouse Creek fire has grown from 500,000 to 850,000 acres on Wednesday alone, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The enormous fire, larger than the state of Rhode Island, was three percent contained as of Wednesday afternoon. Thirty homes have already been burnt to the ground, according to reports. The blaze is fast approaching the record for the largest fire in the state’s history, the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire, which was 907,245.
The ongoing fires left more than 10,000 Texas residents without power, the majority of which were in Hutchinson County.