A wildfire spreading across an area of Texas has become the largest in the US state’s history, covering nearly 4,500 square kilometres of scorched rural lands and destroyed homes.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has merged with another blaze and is 3% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The blaze’s explosive growth slowed as snow fell and winds and temperatures dipped, but it is still threatening more destruction.
It is the largest of several major fires burning in the rural Panhandle section of Texas, and has also crossed into Oklahoma.
Firefighters have made little progress controlling it, but the snow, rain and lower temperatures offer a window to make progress before temperatures and winds increase this weekend.
Authorities have not said what ignited the blazes, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed them.
Less than 2.5cm of snow is expected, but moisture is not the only benefit, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Samuel Scoleri.
“It will help keep relative humidity down for the day, and that will definitely help firefighters,” he said.
Snow and rainfall are expected to end today, with dry, windy conditions returning tomorrow and critical fire conditions possible again on Saturday and Sunday.
An 83-year-old woman is the only confirmed death, but with flames still menacing a wide area, authorities have yet to conduct a thorough search for victims or tally the numerous homes and other structures damaged or destroyed.
Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management Nim Kidd said the weekend forecast and “sheer size and scope” of the blaze are the biggest challenges for firefighters.
“I don’t want the community there to feel a false sense of security that all these fires will not grow any more,” he said. “This is still a very dynamic situation.”
The previous largest blaze recorded in state history was the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire, which burned about 3,500sq/km and resulted in 13 deaths.
This week, walls of flame were pushed by powerful winds while huge plumes of smoke billowed hundreds of metres in the air across the sparsely populated region.
The smoke delayed aerial surveillance of the damage in some areas.
“There was one point where we couldn’t see anything,” said Greg Downey, 57, describing his escape as flames bore down on his neighbourhood. “I didn’t think we’d get out of it.”
The woman who died was identified by family members as Joyce Blankenship, a former substitute teacher.
Her grandson, Lee Quesada, said he had posted in a community forum asking if anyone could locate her.
He said deputies told his uncle yesterday that they had found her remains in her burned home.
Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties.
Hemphill County emergency management co-ordinator Bill Kendall described the charred terrain as “like a moonscape. It’s just all gone”.
He said about 40 homes were burned around the perimeter of the town of Canadian, but no buildings were lost.
Mr Kendall said he also saw “hundreds of cattle just dead, laying in the fields”.
The small town of Fritch, north of Amarillo, lost hundreds of homes in a 2014 fire and appeared to have been hit hard again.
Mayor Tom Ray said that an estimated 40-50 homes had been destroyed on the southern edge, and natural gas remained shut off for the town of 2,200.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire spread from Texas into neighbouring Roger Mills County in western Oklahoma, where officials encouraged people in the Durham area to flee.
At least 13 homes burned in the state’s Panhandle region, officials said.
