Six killed as Texas wildfires burn 663,000 acres

Raging wildfires scorched more than 663,000 acres across Texas yesterday and were blamed for six deaths, including two victims who were trying to escape from their burning home.

Four people died in a multi-vehicle interstate crash in the Texas Panhandle when the dense smoke reduced visibility, the Texas Forest Service said. Six others were injured.

North-east of Amarillo near the town of Borger, two people died trying to escape a grass fire that consumed their home, fire Capt. Mike Galloway said.

“The brush fire overtook their house and yard and got them,” he said. “The flames just spread so fast.”

The fire near Borger covered 432,000 acres, according to the Texas Forest Service.

The fire near Groom had consumed 211,000 acres, and a fire south of Childress in the South Plains had burned 20,000.

“This is probably one of the biggest fire days in Texas history,” said Forest Service spokesman Warren Bielenberg.

The wildfires – which were larger than fires that blackened thousands of acres of grassland and killed three people in late December and early January – forced the evacuation of eight towns.