West Texas wildfires scorch 80,000 acres; 1 death

Wildfires sweeping across West Texas destroyed dozens of homes, forced evacuations and closed an interstate after heavy smoke caused a fatal accident Sunday, and winds fueling the fires weren't expected to weaken overnight. The fires blackened almost 88,000 acres and destroyed 58 homes from the Texas Panhandle to the southern plains, Texas Forest Service spokesman Lewis Kearney said. Heavy smoke from a wildfire near Midland, about 330 miles west of Dallas, was blamed for an eight-vehicle accident along Interstate 20 that killed a 5-year-old girl. The roadway was shrouded in smoke when a tractor-trailer hit the pickup truck she was riding in, said Trooper John Barton of the Texas Department of Public Safety. A man and another child were injured. One firefighter suffered second-degree burns fighting a blaze near Colorado City, about 250 miles west of Dallas, but no other injuries were immediately reported. The largest fire burned about 30,000 acres in the Panhandle northeast of Amarillo, destroying 27 homes and damaging seven others, Kearney said. A local kennel also was burned, but it was unclear how many animals died, said local emergency management spokeswoman Donna Makkhavane...more