Wind conditions should ease, helping crews battle wildfires

Flames and smoke envelope a grain elevator in Sitka, Kan., early Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Grass fires fanned by gusting winds scorched swaths of Kansas grassland Monday, forcing the evacuations of several towns and the closure of some roads. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP) (The Associated Press)

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Cattle graze by a wildfire near Protection, Kan., early Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Grass fires fanned by gusting winds scorched swaths of Kansas grassland Monday, forcing the evacuations of several towns and the closure of some roads. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP) (The Associated Press)

Firefighters from across Kansas and Oklahoma battle a wildfire near Protection, Kan., Monday, March 6, 2017. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP) (The Associated Press)

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – 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.