The Smokehouse Creek Fire spreads, extending its reach from Texas to Oklahoma

but we start this morning with massive wildfires across Texas firefighters are battling four active fires With Disaster declarations in 60 counties the biggest one is still 0% contained and recently doubled in size Omar vranka is following this for us Omar good morning good morning I want youall to take a look at the flags that are blowing behind me that wind has fueled wildfires that have burned hundreds of thousands of acres here in Texas in fact one of the country's main nuclear weapons facilities had to pause their operations because of that fire threat and several structures including homes have already been destroyed in the Texas Panhandle just outside Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle a wall of flames burns the ground and thick choking smoke fills the sky raging wildfires are fueled by winds whipping up more than 50 mph 80° temperatures and bone dry air have made this part of Texas resemble a hellscape at least 300,000 Acres have been scorched across Hutchinson County where the Ferocious Smokehouse Creek Fire has forced residents to flee we've had other fire threats and we've came out UNS sced and this one got us Kelsey benwell evacuated her home in Canadian with her two young children her husband and animals oh my gosh hours later she learned that the place she called home for 7even years burned to the ground it was heartbreaking I I broke down but I mean we were safe it's just stuff it can be replaced but it's still it's still a gut punch a lot of memories get out this Blaze not just a threat to homes Crews were able to safely Corral Livestock on this Ranch this is a monster fire as day turned tonight there are so many fires the fires stretched into Western Oklahoma where more than 30,000 Acres have burned so far we asked them to leave because it's a very dangerous situation officials say at least one responder was injured while battling the Flames which have caused multiple highway closures the state has received reports of at least 29 fires in 15 counties the biggest fire we've been talking about the SmokeHouse Creek Fire is already the fifth largest fire in Texas history but there is a little bit of good news the uh temperatures are starting to drop which should provide some relief to the fire crews out there Nate Omar thank you

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 39,629

Keywords: video, cbs, news, smokehouse creek fire, texas, Oklahoma, firefighters, wildfire

Id: tOokD2dGgaA

Length: 2min 40sec (160 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 28 2024