More air tankers headed to fight devastating Texas wildfires

ABILENE, Texas (KVII) — Firefighters battling the largest wildfire in Texas history got more air support on Saturday.

Three air tankers took off from Abilene on Saturday afternoon headed to the Smokehouse Creek Fire. It's burned over 1 million acres and is just 15% contained. Two people have been killed as a result of the fire.

The first tanker left Abilene Regional Airport at 1:50 p.m. KVII tracked the plane on radar. It dropped retardant just east of the Hwy 83/Hwy 60 split south of Canadian.

The other planes took off at 2:19 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. All three were back in Abilene about two hours later to reload and refuel.

On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties in Texas, and on Wednesday, he directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to increase its readiness level in response to the fires.

Hot, dry and windy conditions will all be present on Saturday and Sunday. Gusts will be anywhere from 40 to 50 mph this weekend. Fire danger will be critical to extremely critical level.

The National Weather Service sent out a red flag warning for the Panhandle from Saturday morning through midnight Sunday.

"Critical fire weather conditions are expected to return today as winds out of the southwest gust to 40 to 45 mph and humidity drops below 10 percent," the NWS said Saturday on X. "Please refrain entirely from outdoor activities that generate sparks or flames."