28 February 2024 , 17:52
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Footage from a devastating fire that continues to tear through Texas shows a truck driving through apocalyptic-like flames.
The inferno has already ripped through hundreds of thousands of acres across the state, threatening homes, farms and businesses and forcing residents to evacuate. On Wednesday, the flames began to creep into bordering Oklahoma communities last night night, prompting evacuation orders there as the fire continues to wreak havoc with firefighters battling the blaze in its third day.
"Greenville Fire currently has firefighters deployed on the wildland fires in the Texas Panhandle. Crews are working the area of Canadian and Wheeler. Locations are subject to change depending on fire conditions," Greenville Fire shared in a post. "We are proud to have the capabilities and training to help other communities in their time of need", they added. The catastrophic blaze is now so big it can be seen from space.
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Please keep all of the firefighters in your thoughts, as well as our Texas neighbors," the post asked. The Smokehouse Creek Fire is the second largest of it's kind in Texas history and it has scorched more than 500,000 acres of land since it was sparked on Monday afternoon, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
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Satellite data demonstrated how wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph pushed flames east quickly, before a strong cold front sliced through and shifted the wind direction, causing the fires then to also changed direction and spread southward.
Fire is ripping through the Lone Star State (tfswildfires)As these fires continue to destroy Texas' diverse and extensive wildlife, concerns for climate change grow as firefighters leave their posts to battle these natural crises.
On an episode of The Assignment with Audie Cornish, two former firefighters told Audie Cornish what it is like fight to fire in the face of increasing danger, and why they left to join the front lines of fighting climate change.
Apocalyptic scenes can be seen from space (Greenville Professional Firefigh)“Firefighting is only one piece of addressing climate change within this space. It's also land management, community planning. It's policy. And that's where there's the chance for a set of changes to help moving forward,” says Megan Fitzgerald McGowan, a former firefighter.
With lives on the line and homes ablaze, the destruction evacuated families may return to is not yet known.
People who evacuated from the town of Fritch, Texas, as the massive Smokehouse Creek wildfire approached have been warned that destruction in the area is significant.
Fire is spreading into Oklahoma (Greenville Fire-Rescue/Facebook)“The easiest way to put this is, I don’t think a lot of folks that live in the Fritch area are probably going to be prepared for what they’re going to see as they pull into town,” Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokesperson Deidra Thomas said in a Facebook update to local residents.
“There are still homes that are on fire,” Thomas stressed.