Borger, Texas – Using bulldozers and air tankers, firefighters struggled Monday to stop wind-blown wildfires that scorched more than 1,000 square miles of the drought- stricken Texas Panhandle.
The blazes were blamed for at least seven deaths, four of them in a crash on a smoke-shrouded highway over the weekend. Four more bodies were found Monday evening in a car that had crashed into a ravine, and authorities suspected those deaths were also caused by the fires.
About 1,900 people in seven counties were evacuated.
“This has been a very deadly wildfire season, but Texas communities have shown strength, and we’re going to continue fighting these fires from the ground and from the air,” said Rachael Novier, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.
There was no immediate estimate of the number of homes damaged or destroyed. Firefighters used bulldozers to plow fire breaks in the parched earth, while air tankers dropped water on the flames.
Jennifer Orand fled her doublewide mobile home Sunday in the tiny Panhandle community of Texroy to stay with a nearby relative.
When she returned Monday, there was nothing left.
“I just started crying,” said Orand, 27, who shared the home with her husband. “You hear all the time that people think it will never happen to you. I never thought I’d say that myself.”
Eleven fires burned across an estimated nearly 700,000 acres Monday, up from 663,000 over the weekend. State fire crews fought more than 160 blazes in one 24-hour period.
The the scorched area easily eclipsed the 455,000 acres that burned in December and January.
The cause of the latest blazes was under investigation.
The previous fires were apparently sparked by people who burned trash, tossed cigarettes or illegally set off fireworks.
About 3.5 million acres have burned since Dec. 26.
