Multiple wildfires that are burning across the Texas Panhandle have scorched more than 1 million acres, caused thousands of evacuations and power outages and left at least one person dead.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire has engulfed more than 850,000 acres alone, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, making it the second-largest recorded blaze in state history.

🔥 What’s happening

The forest service says that the fires started and quickly spread under heavy winds, extremely dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures across north Texas.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties, which will allow fire response resources to be quickly deployed to areas affected by the wildfires.

“Texans are urged to limit activities that could create sparks and take precautions to keep their loved ones safe,” Abbott said in a statement. “I also want to thank the brave firefighters and first responders who are working tirelessly to protect their fellow Texans.”

⚡ Power and water outages

Thousands remain without power in parts of the Panhandle, though reports of power outages have been declining.

Residents in Fritch, a city of about 2,000 located in Hutchinson and Moore counties, were without water and power. The city pleaded in a Facebook post for an industrial generator “to help get our water back up.”

Residents have been posting wildfire updates in a public Facebook group, through which locals have been coordinating assistance to move their livestock, borrow equipment, and find and provide shelter and donations.

🏠 Thousands are under evacuation orders

Several towns and communities were under mandatory evacuations in the Amarillo region, according to the National Weather Service:

• Skellytown

• Wheeler

• Allison

• Briscoe

Residents in other towns had the choice to evacuate.

The Windy Deuce Fire destroyed about half of the structures in Borger and Fritch. More than 40 houses were damaged in Fritch, and parts of the city had to be evacuated.

In Borger, many of the city’s 13,000 residents said they felt trapped.

“It was like a ring of fire around Borger, there was no way out. … All four main roads were closed,” Adrianna Hill told the Associated Press.

Oklahomans in the northwest part of the state, which shares a border with Texas, have also been forced to leave their homes due to the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which jumped across state lines on Tuesday.

💣 Partial shutdown at nuclear weapons facility

On Tuesday night, Carson County’s Pantex Plant — the U.S.’s main nuclear weapons facility — briefly evacuated nonessential staff out of an “abundance of caution,” said Laef Pendergraft, a spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s production office at Pantex.

The facility, which is largely responsible for assembling and disassembling the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal, is about 13 miles away from the Windy Deuce Fire in Moore County.

The plant said Wednesday it was open for “normal day shift operations.”

🧑‍🚒 Firefighters deployed to contain flames

The Smokehouse Creek Fire was just 3% contained as of Wednesday evening, according to the forest service.

But crews battling the flames have made more progress on the smaller wildfires. The Windy Deuce Fire, which has burned about 142,000 acres, is about 30% contained.

In Gray County, firefighters have contained about 60% of the Grape Vine Creek Fire, which has destroyed 30,000 acres.

The Juliet Pass Fire in Armstrong County was largely under control, with 100% containment, but an estimated 3,000 acres were still scorched.