Wildfires

Wildfires - USA

Texas Panhandle Wildfire Destroys 156 Buildings, Including 89 Homes, Near Fritch

A grass fire that swept through Hutchinson County in the Texas Panhandle on Sunday destroyed 156 structures, at least 89 of which were homes, authorities said late Monday.

Hutchinson County Emergency Management officials said no injures have been reported. But about 2,100 people remain evacuated from roughly 1,300 homes, said Troy Duchneaux, Texas A&M Forest Service spokesman.

The fire, which burned near Fritch, town of about 2,100 located 30 miles northeast of Amarillo, was about 65 percent contained as of late Monday night, and humidity and lower temperatures from area storms were helping, Duchneaux said.

New Mexico wildfire forces evacuations, threatens college town

A wind-fed wildfire in New Mexico raged out of control on Monday, sending heavy smoke wafting over the outskirts of a college town and forcing local authorities to warn residents of a nearby community to evacuate, the U.S. Forest Service said.

The so-called Signal Peak Fire has burned 3,000 acres since erupting on Sunday in the Gila National Forest, fed by tinder-dry conditions and high winds, with gusts exceeding 25 miles per hour, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Brian Martinez.

No injuries have been reported but the small mountain town of Pinos Altos, home to 198 year-round residents, is under voluntary evacuation conditions with an unknown number of structures in danger.

Thick smoke is spreading toward Silver City, a town of just over 10,000 people and home to Western New Mexico University, Martinez said. The edge of the fire was burning 11 miles outside the town.