The fires in the state that aren’t yet contained include a 250,000 acre blaze burning in Hutchinson County.
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.
So, it’s important to remember that Texas has a pretty similar latitude as Algeria. Cold snaps happen, but is usually very hot (100F temps for 6 months of the year) with very mild winters. The Western parts of Texas are also very arid with loads of flammable shrubs, so wild fires aren’t very uncommon.