(CTN News) – As a consequence of a series of wildfires burning across the Texas Panhandle, thousands were evacuated, thousands lost power, and at least one nuclear weapons facility was temporarily shut down, officials have reported.
Pantex – the main facility which assembles and disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal – shut its doors on Tuesday night after a lightning strike, but it said it would reopen for normal operations on Wednesday morning.
In an abundance of caution, we have evacuated non-essential personnel from the site, according to Laef Pendergraft, a spokesperson for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office at Pantex.
The plant has a well-equipped fire department trained for these wildfire scenarios. If an emergency occurs on the premises, the department is ready to react.
Earlier this week, Pantex announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the plant had reopened for normal day shift operations. It also announced that all personnel from Wildfires were to report for duty according to their assigned duties.
Located approximately 17 miles northeast of Amarillo, Pantex is approximately 320 miles northwest of Dallas, and is approximately 17 miles northeast of San Angelo.
In 1975, it became the U.S.’s main assembly and disassembly site for its atomic bombs, and it has been that way ever since. As part of the dismantling process, it assembled the last new bomb in 1991 while dismantling thousands more.
Panhandle wildfires spread across rural areas
According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, a disaster declaration has been issued for 60 counties as the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest blaze, is estimated to have scorched nearly 400 square miles. During the first few hours after the fire began, it had grown by more than double its size.
It is unclear what might have caused the fire to rage Wildfire across sparsely populated counties, surrounded by rolling plains and sparsely inhabited towns.
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