Wildfires fueled by dry conditions spread quickly across Texas and Oklahoma

Fast-moving flames raged throughout parts of the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma on Friday afternoon, prompting evacuations, triggering multiple automobile accidents under sandstorm conditions, and leaving thousands without electricity.

According to officials in the broader Amarillo region, preliminary reports suggest that at least three persons were killed in collisions.

Wildfires were fanned by gusty winds and dry air across a parched landscape in eastern New Mexico and Colorado, as well as Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and parts of the Midwest. National Weather Service forecasters warned that new fires were expected to break out on Saturday.

A belt of abnormally dry air sweeping across Oklahoma from west to east is a key component to the fire weather. While in the Emergency Operations Center, State Forester Mark Goeller stated that the flames are raging along the line and continue to spread.

“And as this thing marches east, we can expect that any starts that we've seen similar to this will similarly start to erupt as it moves further to the east,” Goeller said.

As the evening comes, the damp air will provide some respite.  Higher relative humidity levels have reached the Panhandle and are anticipated to spread east. The National Service predicts that wind speeds will decrease as well.

“So we do have a ray of hope out there, but it's going to be several hours before we get into that where we can start seeing some relief,” Goeller said. "That's when the fire departments and the resources that we have will start to be able to, at least, start making some headway to catch a lot of the fires that we've got going on."

Sgt. Cindy Barkley of the Texas Department of Public Safety in Amarillo stated that the department was "inundated right now with crashes." A multivehicle pileup forced the closure of State Highway 207 between Borger, Texas, and Panhandle, Texas. Sergeant Barkley said preliminary assessments suggested that three persons had perished in collisions in the region.

Oklahoma's Department of Environmental Quality issued a health alert on particle matter in the air. As of 5 p.m., the whole state's air included more particulate matter — like as smoke and dust — than the DEQ considers healthy. Southwest Oklahoma has over 20 counties with unsafe levels, including Tulsa and Kay counties. Thirty additional counties reported levels that were harmful to sensitive groups, while the remainder were classed as "moderate."