Weather lends hand

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2006 | by John Bacon; Tom Kenworthy

Firefighters aided by more favorable weather claimed progress Thursday against wildfires that have burned more than 850,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle. Its looking really good, said Mary Leathers, a fire spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service. Everybody seems to have a better spring in their step. In contrast to Wednesday, when high winds drove the 450,000-acre Borger fire north toward Oklahoma, Thursday brought lighter winds. Rain is forecast for the weekend, and fire officials are hopeful that will fully stop the three large Panhandle fires. Were hoping for containment this weekend, said fire information officer Warren Bielenberg. The 350,000-acre Interstate 40 fire and 40,000-acre Buckle L2 fire were about 70%-75% contained, and the Borger fire about 50% contained. We really...