Wildfires raging on more than a million acres in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas leave at least six people dead

An animation of images from NASA's Terra satellite shows fires burning across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The first image in the sequence is in natural color; the second is in a false color scheme that highlights burned areas; and the third shows where the satellite detected active burning. (Images: NASA Worldview. Animation: Tom Yulsman) Fierce winds, temperatures in the 80s, and low humidity, have whipped up deadly wildfires in the Southern Plains that so far have killed at least six people and prompted the evacuation of thousands. The wildfires appear to have gotten started late Sunday into Monday — and then exploded today. A fire official in Kansas told the Wichita Eagle that the fire emergency there was "unprecedented." "We’ve had bad fires and we’ve had really bad fires but never multiples at once like this," said Eric Ward, a fire specialist with the Kansas Forest Service, quoted by the ...