HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Latest on wildfires burning in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado (all times local):
8:30 a.m.
Three wildfires in the Texas Panhandle have burned nearly 750 square miles of rural land as firefighters continue to make progress in containing the flames fanned by winds and dry conditions.
The fires have killed four people, with the latest victim identified as 25-year-old Cade Koch. His wife, Sierra Koch, told the Amarillo Globe-News her husband was overcome by smoke as he drove home Monday night.
The fire that claimed Koch is the largest of the three, covering 492 square miles in the northeast Panhandle near the Oklahoma border. It was 60 percent contained by Wednesday morning.
A second fire just to the south has consumed 210 square miles and is 75 percent contained. A smaller fire to the west near Amarillo is fully contained.
The Texas A&M Forest Service says there remains a high wildfire danger Wednesday in the Panhandle.
___
8 a.m.
Emergency officials say eight people have been treated at hospitals for breathing-related complications from smoky air caused by massive wildfires in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management says hospitals reported the injuries from the wildfires still burning in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
State forestry officials say three fires have burned more than 500 square miles in the Panhandle, including one large fire that has crossed over the state line into Kansas. Officials say they haven't been able to contain the fires at all as of Wednesday morning.
Forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, say critical fire conditions will persist in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday, but winds fanning the flames are expected to ease up later in the day.
___
6:25 a.m.
New estimates indicate Kansas wildfires have burned more than 1,000 square miles, up from 625 square miles.
The Kansas Division of Emergency Management said late Tuesday that the heaviest damage is in Clark County, where 548 square miles have burned. That fire started in Oklahoma before moving into the Kansas ranching community.
Another 235 square miles have burned in neighboring Comanche County, Kansas.
The state says six other counties are battling blazes. Among them, estimates of the burned land range from a single square mile to about 90.
Kansas National Guard Black Hawk helicopters have been assisting with the firefight. They dropped about 138,000 gallons on fires near Hutchinson in Reno County, where 10,000 to 12,000 people voluntarily evacuated their homes.
___
12:25 a.m.
Winds are expected to diminish as emergency crews in four states continue to battle wildfires that have killed six people and destroyed hundreds of square miles of land.
The Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center says powerful wind gusts that fanned the flames in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas should ease to about 10 to 20 mph on Wednesday.
Wildfires in Kansas have burned about 625 square miles of land and killed one person. At least four people died in Texas, where three fires burned about 500 square miles.
Authorities in Oklahoma say a woman had a fatal heart attack while trying to save her farm from one blaze. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in 22 counties.
All of eastern Colorado is classified as either moderately or abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
