As one of the hottest summers on record in North Texas continues to pound areas across Dallas-Fort Worth, several counties in the region are battling wildfires that have forced evacuations and left buildings in flames.
On Tuesday, the National Weather Service issued a red flag fire warning for North and Central Texas as well as parts of Oklahoma. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Texas A&M University Forest Service’s tracking map listed dozens of wildfires across the state, including at least 15 active blazes.
Between Kemp and Rosser, in Kaufman County, firefighters were battling to contain a fire in the King Creek area. The blaze reportedly spanned some 450 acres and had been around 85% contained by Tuesday afternoon, WFAA reported.
In Somerville County, southwest of Fort Worth, a fire stretching across some 6,000 acres was only about 10% contained, according to Texas A&M’s Forest Service. The county has had an emergency declaration in place since Monday.
"This week, we're certainly seeing … increased wildfire activity because of the hot temperatures and the dry conditions," Erin O'Connor, the lead public information officer at A&M's Forest Service, told the Observer, adding that "any spark or ignition has the potential to grow into a wildfire."
The service expects this to "most likely" continue into next week "because we don't see any break in the hot temperatures," O'Connor explained by phone. "We haven't had much rainfall over the past couple weeks, so that certainly hasn't helped."
About 70 miles west of Fort Worth, another blaze raged near Possum Kingdom Lake and had burned through some 500 acres by Tuesday, ABC News reported.
Other fires have been reported in East Texas, in Smith and Van Zandt counties, and northeast of Dallas, in Hunt County, A&M’s Forest Service noted.
Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott renewed a drought disaster declaration for 189 counties across the state and a wildfire declaration for at least 72 counties.
In a statement on Tuesday, Abbott’s office urged Texans “remain vigilant” in the face of the wildfires.
"The State of Texas remains steadfast in our ongoing coordinated response to help Texans and communities affected by or at risk of wildfires," Abbott said in the release.Yesterday, Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 24 wildfires for 7,774 acres. Continued hot and dry conditions will support wildfire activity this week.
— Incident Information - Texas A&M Forest Service (@AllHazardsTFS) July 20, 2022
Please continue to be cautious with any outdoor activity that may cause a spark! pic.twitter.com/InPQQlCseM
"As we continue to deploy all available resources in response to widespread fire and drought conditions," the governor added, "Texans are encouraged to remain vigilant and weather-aware to protect themselves and their loved ones from dangerous wildfires."
Late Tuesday, an evacuation order was lifted as authorities grappled with some 24 fresh fires that spread from Somerville County into Hood County, about 75 miles southwest of Dallas.
“The fire environment, characterized by critically to extremely dry vegetation and critical fire weather, will support wildfire activity this week,” Texas A&M’s Forest Service said in an update Wednesday morning.
The service added that at least 214 of Texas' 254 counties have burn bans in place.
In a press release published early Wednesday, the National Interagency Fire Center said that some 3.1 million acres had been burned in the current wave of 86 wildfires around the U.S.
“So far in 2022, 37,395 wildfires have burned 5,499,140 acres in the United States,” the NIFC said in a statement Wednesday, adding: “The states with the most human-caused wildfires are Texas, North Carolina, California, Georgia and Florida.”
