Texas fire live updates: Dry weather and strong winds threatened to intensify state’s largest ever wildfire

A Texas Panhandle Wildfire Relief Fund has been created by the Texas Farm Bureau in an effort to help farmers and ranchers who have been affected by the fires.

This program will collect and distribute monetary contributions only, the fund says.

Multi-engine Airtankers (Super Scoopers) scoop water out of Lake Meredith before responding to the #WindyDeuceFire,” according to a tweet posted by Texas A&M Forest Service.

There are also 13 aircraft in Texas working on active wildfires.

Donations of feed and hay continue to be delivered to the Texas panhandle for ranchers in need.

“But it’s more than a round bale or a sack of feed,” the Texas Farm Bureau said in a tweet. “It’s hope and faith rolled up tight along with prayers for a better tomorrow.”

Video obtained by ABC7 Amarillo shows a time lapse of the time lapse of the Smokehouse Creek Fire.

In four minutes, the air temperature goes from 75 degrees to 104 degrees.

Two firefighters were injured battling the flames in Oklahoma from the fire that spread from Texas, The Associated Press reported.

One suffered a heat-related injury and the other was injured when the brush pumper he was riding in struck a tanker truck as the two were heading to fight the fire near Gage.

Both firefighters are expected to recover.

“Critical fire weather conditions are expected to continue today as winds out of the southwest gust to 50 mph and humidity drops below 15 percent,” the National Weather Service posted on Sunday. “Please refrain entirely from outdoor activities that generate sparks or flames.”

The Smokehouse Creek fire is now the largest in state history as it burns 1,078,086 acres alone, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. It is just 15 per cent contained as of Saturday.

The fires have killed at least two people.

Joyce Blankenship, 83, was found dead in her destroyed Hutchinson County home, officials said.

On Thursday it was confirmed that a second woman – Cindy Owens – had succumbed to her injuries after getting out of her truck and being severely burned.

See maps of these deadly blazes:

Joyce Blankenship, 83, was found dead in her Stinnett, Texas home on Wednesday as wildfires ravaged the region. She was a beloved mother, grandmother and former substitute teacher, say her relatives.

More than a dozen other homes in her town were destroyed by the fires, which now include the largest blaze in state history: the Smokehouse Creek fire, burning one million acres alone in the Texas Panhandle.

Blankenship’s grandson, Lee Quesada, told the Associated Press that local deputies told his uncle they had found her remains in her burned home on Wednesday.

On Thursday it was confirmed that a second woman – Cindy Owens – had succumbed to her injuries after getting out of her truck and being severely burned.