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Texas Issues Emergency Order in 11 Counties as Wildfire Forces Evacuations

Texas recently issued a State of Emergency order in eleven counties as the wildfire continues to grow and nearly 500 people evacuated.

On Friday, Governor Greg Abbott issued the order in eleven counties. And sadly, the fire already consumed over 50,000 acres of land and destroyed at least fifty homes in Eastland, Brown, and Comanche counties. However, he concluded that as they continue surveilling the damages, they’ll likely find more demolished homes. This happened after a massive wildfire burned upwards of thousands of acres since Thursday. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, firefighters responded to at least ten wildfires that burned 52,708 acres on Thursday.

But sadly, at least one person lost their life. Texas officials shared the devastating news of the death of Deputy Barbara Fenley. According to authorities, Eastland County Deputy Barbara Fenley died while helping rescue people from the Eastland Complex on Thursday night. Eastland County Today shared that Fenley traveled door to door to evacuate residents.

“I commend the hard work and selfless acts of thousands of first responders and firefighters who are risking their own lives to protect our communities,” said Governor Abbott.

He also asked Texas residents to join him in prayer for everyone affected by the wildfire, including the late Officer Fenley and her family.

Officials state that Eastland Complex fires include the Kidd Fire, which is the largest one. Alone, the blaze took hold of nearly 30,000 acres of land. The shifting winds and dry conditions are largely to blame for the massive wildfire.

“Wildfires that ignite under these forecast conditions are highly resistant to firefighters’ suppression efforts and pose a threat to public safety,” Fire Chief Wes Moorehead of Texas A&M Forest Service stated earlier this week.

Florida Wildfire Causes 600 People to Evacuate and Prompts State of Emergency

Well, Outsiders, it looks like Texas isn’t the only state deeply affected by wildfires. A northwestern Florida wildfire caused 600 people to evacuate the area this month. This led to local officials declaring a state of emergency.

According to CBS, the Adkins Avenue Fire grew to 1,500 acres. And so far, officuals only contained 30% of the fire a few weeks ago. The damage led to nearly 600 homes being evacuated, the completed destruction of two, and 12 suffering from extensive damage. Several agencies in Bay County and surrounding counties responded to help with containing the fire. Thankfully, over a dozen tractor plow units worked on the ground, several helicopters assisted from the air, and over 200 firefighters worked to extinguish the flames.

The Florida Forest Service stated that the fire continued to grow due to its location. It burned in an area deeply affected by Hurricane Michael, which cut down 72 million tons of trees. In case you didn’t know, served as potent fuel for the fire.