December 28, 2005, 16:08 Society

Texas is on fire at Christmas

Anastasia Makryashina Photo: AP In Texas and Oklahoma, drought and Christmas fireworks have caused the largest wildfires in the last five years. One person was killed and several suffered burns or smoke inhalation. Dozens of houses and cars burned down.

In the US states of Texas and Oklahoma, large fires are raging - the prairies are burning. The cause of the fires was a severe drought that has prevailed here since the summer. In addition, the situation was provoked by fireworks that local residents lit last weekend in honor of Christmas, reports the Associated Press . “In most cases, fires are caused by residents who did not follow fire safety regulations, burned fireworks, or threw an unextinguished cigarette into dry grass,” said a Texas Fire Department spokesman.

According to CNN, fires broke out in this state on Sunday, but reached their peak on Tuesday after the winds sharply increased. “The fire has now spread throughout the state,” a Texas Forest Service spokeswoman said. According to her, only in the north and center of the state there are 73 known large fires.

Despite the efforts of firefighters and the evacuation of residents from the most dangerous areas, one person died and dozens suffered burns or smoke inhalation.

It is known that an elderly woman died on the border between Texas and Oklahoma; the circumstances of her death have not been reported. The victims included one child with burns to his hands and several firefighters who suffered smoke inhalation.

In addition, several dozen houses and cars have already been burned in the fire, and many buildings have been damaged. So in the city of Cross Plains, where there are only about 1 thousand houses, fire destroyed two dozen buildings. “It felt like we were being bombed—the whole city was on fire,” said one local resident. “At one point, 10-15 houses were burning at the same time, and it was impossible to get close to them to put them out.” Several more buildings were damaged in Canndale. Having passed very close to the city, the fires left behind a dense smoke screen. Traffic on Federal Highway 287 was temporarily closed: the fire came close to the road and posed a real threat to cars passing along it. In some areas, power lines were damaged and electricity was cut off.

In this regard, the state's governor, Rick Perry, declared a state of emergency. This allowed him to bring in National Guard units to fight the fire.

In Oklahoma, the situation is most serious in the state capital, Oklahoma City. Dozens of houses burned down there, and at least three people were burned. In the town of Wevoka, about 130 km from the state capital, about 30 buildings burned down. “Our city is literally surrounded by fires. “Many historical buildings burned down,” said a Wevoki administration official.

Part of the residents of the city of Mustang, which is home to only about 15 thousand people, was evacuated. There, the fire crossed the city boundaries and spread to houses.

Fighting fires is greatly complicated by strong winds with gusts of more than 20 m/s - firefighting helicopters simply cannot get to the fires.

Now the fires continue, but “the situation is already under control,” fire service representatives say. However, in many areas, residents have to defend their homes on their own: they intensively water lawns near buildings. For security reasons, local authorities asked them not to enter the houses themselves for a while.

The last time such severe fires were recorded in these states was in February 1996 - then in the city of Pooleville in Texas, 141 houses burned down, and the fire burned more than 6.5 thousand hectares of land.