An image from Greenville Fire-Rescue's Facebook page dated February 28, 2024 shows fires in the Texas Panhandle. (Greenville Fire-Rescue via AP)

CANADIAN, Texas (AP) — The explosive growth of the second-largest wildfire in Texas history slowed as winds and temperatures eased, but the massive blaze was still untamed and threatening more death and destruction.

The Smokehouse Fire is the largest of several major fires burning in the rural Panhandle portion of the state. It charred 1,300 square miles (3,370 square kilometers) and reached as far south as Oklahoma.

Firefighters have made little progress on containment – containment was just 3% – but Thursday's forecast of temperatures in the 40s and a chance of rain offered a window for progress before temperatures and winds increase this weekend. Authorities have not said what sparked the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures have fueled the fires.

An 83-year-old grandmother is the only confirmed death so far, but with the flames still threatening a wide area, authorities have yet to conduct a thorough search for victims or count the scores of damaged or destroyed homes and other buildings.

Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said the forecast for the weekend and “the sheer size and scope” of the fire are the biggest challenges facing firefighters.

“I don’t want the community there to feel a false sense of security that all these fires aren’t going to grow anymore,” Kidd said. “This is still a very dynamic situation.”

The largest fire in state history was the East Amarillo Complex fire in 2006, which burned about 1,400 square miles (3,630 square kilometers) and caused 13 deaths.

This week, walls of flames were pushed by strong winds as huge clouds of smoke rose hundreds of meters in the air over the sparsely populated region. The smoke delayed aerial monitoring of the damage in some areas.

“There was a point where we couldn't see anything,” said Greg Downey, 57, describing his escape as flames descended on his neighborhood. “I didn’t think we’d get out of there.”

The deceased woman was identified by family members as Joyce Blankenship, a former substitute teacher. Her grandson, Lee Quesada, said he asked on a community forum if anyone could try to find her. Quesada said officials told his uncle Wednesday that they had found Blankenship's remains in their burned home.

Quesada said she would sometimes surprise him with funny little stories “about her rougher days.”

“Just talking to her was a joy,” he said, adding that “Joy” was a nickname of hers.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties. The sprawling flames caused the main facility dismantling America's nuclear arsenal to halt operations on Tuesday evening, but it was open for normal work on Wednesday.

Bill Kendall, emergency management coordinator for Hemphill County, described the charred site as “like a moonscape.” … It’s all just gone.”

Kendall said around 40 homes burned around the town of Canadian, but no buildings were lost within the community. Kendall also said he saw “hundreds of cattle just laying dead in the fields.”

Tresea Rankin filmed her own home in Canada as it burned.

“88 years of memories, that’s what you thought,” Rankin said as she watched the flames destroy her home. “Two of my children got married there… But you know, it's OK, the memories won't go away.”

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 Wednesday that an estimated 40 to 50 homes were destroyed along the southern edge. Ray said natural gas service remains shut off to the town of 2,200 residents.

Residents are likely not “prepared for what they will experience if they drive into town,” Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokeswoman Deidra Thomas said in a social media livestream. She compared the damage to a tornado.

Near Borger, a community of about 13,000 residents, emergency officials responded to questions from panicked residents on Facebook at one point late Tuesday, urging them to prepare to leave if they had not already done so.

“It was like a ring of fire around Borger. There was no way out… all four main roads were closed,” said Adrianna Hill, whose home was about a mile from the fire. She said the wind blowing the fire in the opposite direction “saved our butts.”

The Pantex nuclear weapons plant northeast of Amarillo evacuated non-essential personnel Tuesday evening out of an “out of caution,” said Laef Pendergraft, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s production office in Pantex. Firefighters stayed behind in case of an emergency.

Pantex tweeted early Wednesday that the facility was “open for normal day shift operations.”

The Smokehouse Creek Fire spread from Texas to neighboring Roger Mills County in western Oklahoma, where officials encouraged people in the Durham area to evacuate. At least 13 homes burned in fires in the state's Panhandle region, officials said Wednesday.

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