Live BlogSTATE OFFICIALS IN Texas say that a wildfire burning about 70 miles from Dallas is covering an area twice as big as previously estimated.
The blaze has grown to cover nearly 150,000 acres in the Possum Kingdom Lake area. The fire is the fifth in Texas to have burned more than 100,000 acres in the past two weeks. There is an extreme drought in the state and temperatures are hovering around the 35 degrees celcius mark.
More than 30 homes have been destroyed in this latest blaze, and that number is expected to grow. The flames also reached a storage building containing fireworks on the shore of the North Texas lake, lighting up the night, but causing no injuries.
Authorities in Texas have charged a homeless man with Arson, saying he defied a statewide ban on lighting fires in the open and left a campfire unattended on Saturday. Fire officials say wind-blown embers ignited the blaze.
Two people who apparently wanted to see the fires from the air died when their single-engine biplane crashed. The wreckage was found yesterday.
- AP
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