Texas battling largest wildfire in its history

HUTCHINSON - Texas emergency crews were struggling to contain the largest wildfire in the US state's history, with the blaze leaving at least one person dead and scorching a million acres as it raged out of control.

The Texas A&M Forest Service said six major fires, fueled by winter heat and ferocious winds, were actively burning, five of them across the state's northern area known as the Texas panhandle.

The largest, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, started on Monday, grew to a record 435,000 hectares in size, and was just three percent contained, the forest service said.

With Smokehouse Creek merging with another blaze, it has now become the state's largest-ever wildfire, surpassing the East Amarillo Complex disaster that torched 907,000 acres in 2006.

While preventive evacuations were ordered across multiple localities, the body of an 83-year-old woman was found in the city of Stinnett, a Hutchinson County emergency services spokesperson, Deidra Thomas, told ABC News.

She also said about 20 structures in Stinnett had been razed by the fire.

Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday issued a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties, a move that frees up resources to battle the fires.

President Joe Biden, while visiting the southern border, told reporters that 500 federal personnel were working on fire suppression in Texas.