LUBBOCK — Five raging wildfires in the Texas Panhandle collectively worsened Wednesday and have already burned more than 1 million acres of land, an amount of land that's nearly as big as the Grand Canyon National Park.
The Smokehouse Creek fire, which started Monday afternoon in Hutchinson County, grew from 100,000 to 500,000 acres within 24 hours, according to Texas A&M Forest Service. By Wednesday afternoon, the fire burned 850,000 acres. It is the second largest wildfire in Texas history, and was only 3% contained.
