A nuclear weapons facility in the Texas Panhandle said it had evacuated some staff Tuesday amid wind-fueled wildfires that covered thousands of acres and prompted the governor to issue a disaster declaration.
The Pantex Plant, which handles nuclear weapons, said it was monitoring the situation but that there was no fire on the plant site. All weapons were safe and unaffected, the facility said.
“We are responding to the plant, but there is no fire on site or on our boundary,” Laef Pendergraft, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office stationed at Pantex, said at a news conference Tuesday night.
No deaths have been reported in the fires, which officials say are being fueled by hot, dry conditions, and which prompted a disaster declaration.
“I issued a disaster declaration today to ensure critical fire response resources are swiftly deployed to areas in the Texas Panhandle being impacted by devastating wildfires,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement Tuesday.
Pendergraft said Pantex employees were evacuated out of an abundance of caution. The company said that crews were building a fire barrier and that its emergency management program is one of the best within the Department of Energy.
“All weapons and special materials are safe and unaffected,” it said Tuesday evening on X.
Pantex is “the nation’s primary assembly, disassembly, retrofit, and life-extension center for nuclear weapons,” the Department of Energy says on its website.
Drifting smoke caused by winds prompted a number of 911 calls in Amarillo on Tuesday, and officials sought to remind residents that there were not fires near the city of more than 200,000.
However, fire officials in Amarillo said they were on the scene of fires on both sides of Highway 136 north of the city.
In Hutchinson County, northeast of Amarillo, the so-called Smokehouse Creek Fire had burned around 250,000 acres and was 0% contained Tuesday evening, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, a state agency.
The fire broke out Monday, and by Tuesday morning, it was reported to be around 100,000 acres, according to the forest service.
The National Weather Service described fire conditions in Hutchinson County on Tuesday as “critical,” with very dry grass and maximum wind gusts of 65 mph.
The community of Scotts Acres in Stinnett, a city of around 1,600 that is the seat of Hutchinson County, was under a mandatory evacuation order Tuesday, officials said. Gas to the city had been shut off Tuesday but was later turned back on.
Video on social media from the Stinnett area showed cattle running across a field behind a vehicle, with smoke from the fires behind them.
Katlyn Butler said the video was of cattle being released to escape the fires near the Turkey Track Ranch, east of Stinnett, NBC affiliate KAMR of Amarillo reported.
“We’ve been on fire for 24 hours,” Butler said. She added that “our ranch is on its own as all fire departments had to move into town to save communities.”
The city of Pampa suggested a voluntary evacuation Tuesday as firefighters battled a blaze north of the city of about 16,000 people, but that was later lifted. Firefighting efforts were continuing, Pampa’s government said on Facebook.
In Canadian, to the east, schools were canceled for Wednesday.
“I hope everyone is safe,” the superintendent of the Canadian Independent School District, Lynn Pulliam, said in a message to the community.
Tuesday evening, “red flag” warnings, which indicate an increased risk of wildfires, had covered northwestern and northern Texas, according to the weather service. High wind warnings had also been in place in northwestern Texas.
The weather service said that poor air quality would remain in Amarillo overnight as smoke from the fires streamed south into the city. It recommended residents and pets be kept inside as much as possible.
In addition to the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the Grape Vine Creek Fire, also in the Texas Panhandle, was around 30,000 acres with 20% containment, and the Juliet Pass Fire was a little more than 2,900 acres and 90% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
