NORTH TEXAS – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration Tuesday due to widespread wildfires in the Panhandle amid hot and dry conditions. Dry vegetation and high winds were fueling the rapid growth of blazes. Abbott’s declaration includes 60 counties. Pantex, the main facility that assembles and disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal, shut down its operations Tuesday night because of nearby wildfires. But the plant’s operators said overnight on X, that it is “open for normal day shift operations for Wednesday, February 28.” The plant is located some 30 miles east of Amarillo. …The largest fire is the Smokehouse Creek fire in Hutchinson County, northeast of Amarillo. It is an estimated 500,000 acres and is 0% contained. The Amarillo Area Office of Emergency Management said late Tuesday night that “Randall County, Potter County, and City of Amarillo, Texas have declared a local state of disaster. …The Texas A&M Forest Service is bracing for more wildfire activity in the coming weeks.  

Additional coverage in the Dallas Morning News: Wildfire triggers evacuation for multiple parts of Texas Panhandle, forest service says