Texas wildfire: rising temperatures, winds and dry air hamper firefighting

Personnel battle to keep largest wildfire in state history from turning more of the Panhandle into a parched wasteland

Firefighters in Texas faced rising temperatures, whipped-up winds and dry air Saturday in their battle to keep the largest wildfire in state history from turning more of the Panhandle into a parched wasteland.

Firefighters were focused on containing the fire along its northern and eastern perimeters, where aggressive gusts from the south-west threatened to spread the flames and consume more acreage, according to Jason Nedlo, a spokesperson with the team of firefighters battling the Smokehouse Creek fire, which began Monday and has claimed at least two lives.