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At a Glance Wildfires broke out in the Plains on Monday and were fanned by strong winds.

The fires have torched hundreds of square miles and killed at least six people.

Thousands have been evacuated. Deadly wildfires burning across four Plains states have nearly doubled in size overnight, jumping from 625 square miles to more than 1,000. High winds are helping to fan the blazes, which broke out on Monday and have forced thousands to evacuate and contributing to the deaths of six people.

The Kansas Division of Emergency Management said late Tuesday that the heaviest damage is in Clark County, where 548 square miles have burned. That fire started in Oklahoma before moving into the Kansas ranching community.

Winds on the western side of the same storm system that spawned an outbreak of severe storms in the Midwest spread the fires, but crews battling the blazes may get a bit of a break as winds are forecast to die down to about 10 to 20 mph Wednesday.

"These conditions will make it somewhat easier for firefighting efforts, but far from perfect," Storm Prediction Center forecast operations chief Bill Bunting told the Associated Press. "The fires still will be moving. The ideal situation is that it would turn cold and rain and, unfortunately, that's not going to happen."

Parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado and the Texas Panhandle were the hardest hit by the wildfires, which were so intense and large that they could be spotted by satellites.

Here's what happening in each state right now.

(MORE: Severe Storms Cause Damage in Midwest )

Kansas

In Kansas, wildfires have burned over 600,000 acres of land and killed one person. The Kansas Highway Patrol said tractor-trailer driver Corey Holt, of Oklahoma City, was killed Monday when his rig jackknifed as he tried to backup because of poor visibility on Highway 34 in Clark County, which is on Kansas' southern border with Oklahoma. He succumbed to smoke after getting out of his vehicle. Two SUVs crashed into the truck, injuring six people who were taken to hospitals, state trooper Michael Racy said.

In Clark County, about 30 structures have been damaged, including some homes, said Allison Kuhns, a spokeswoman for the county's emergency management office. She said about half of the structures were damaged in or near the small city of Englewood, which was among two in the county that was evacuated. Kuhns said there also have been significant cattle losses and that there were entire ranches that were engulfed.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/wildfires-ks.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/wildfires-ks.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/wildfires-ks.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > Firefighters from across Kansas and Oklahoma battle a wildfire near Protection, Kansas, Monday, March 6, 2017. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP) (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP)

Elsewhere, the largest evacuations were in Reno County, where 10,000 to 12,000 people voluntarily left their homes Monday night, said Katie Horner, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Emergency Management. She said 66 people from the area were in shelters Tuesday in Hutchinson, which is 40 miles northwest of Wichita.

Among them was Shelley Wilson, who fled with her disabled son and pets from a blaze Monday that was encircling her farm outside of Hutchinson. She returned later that night with her adult daughter to retrieve her tractor.

"I don't know if I have a home to go home to," Wilson said at the shelter Tuesday as her daughter did her best to lighten her mood. "In case I needed to rebuild, I wanted to at least have my tractor."

Several hundred more people evacuated their homes in Russell, Ellsworth and Comanche counties, which are in central Kansas.

The Kansas fires forced the closure of some roads, including two short stretches of Interstate 70 in the central part of the state. A stretch of a U.S. 54 in southern Kansas's Pratt County also was closed Monday because of smoke from a fire near a cotton gin and surrounding grassland.

Texas

In the Texas Panhandle, three fires have burned more than 195 square miles of land and killed at least four people. One of the blazes near Amarillo threatened about 150 homes, while a larger fire in the northeast corner of the Panhandle near the Oklahoma border was only 5 percent contained as of Tuesday morning, according to Texas A&M Forest Service. That larger fire was responsible for a death on Monday, authorities said Tuesday without providing further details.

A wildfire in Gray County, which is also in the Texas Panhandle, killed three ranch hands who were trying to usher cattle away from the flames, said Judge Richard Peet, the county's head administrator. One of the three apparently died of smoke inhalation Monday night and the other two were badly burned and died on the way to hospitals, he said.

Forest Service spokesman Phillip Truitt said as many as four firefighters were hurt battling the fires Monday. He provided no details on their conditions Tuesday morning.

Oklahoma

A woman had a fatal heart attack while fighting a blaze in Buffalo Tuesday, reports the Associated Press. Officials say she was trying to keep her farm in Harper County from burning.

Oklahoma Forestry Services said 200,000 to 300,000 acres had been charred in Beaver, Harper and Woodward counties as of Tuesday.

Numerous residences and secondary structures were burned by a wildfire estimated to be 185,000 acres in size near Knowles and Gate. Several other fires were burning near Selman, Woodward and Empire.

The National Weather Service warned that anyone with respiratory problems should limit their time outdoors due to the smoke in the air.

Ash from the fires reportedly fell from the sky as far east as Oklahoma City even though they were burning more than 100 miles to the west of the city.

Colorado

In northeastern Colorado near the Nebraska border, firefighters lost ground to a blaze in rural Logan and Phillips counties. They had the blaze 90 percent contained Monday evening, but only 50 percent contained Tuesday, despite working overnight to douse hot spots and flare-ups. The fire has burned more than 45 square miles of land and destroyed three homes. Nearby residents were warned to be ready to evacuate if the fire advances toward them.

More than 70 firefighters from 13 departments battled the blaze, which was reported east of Sterling on Monday morning. The fire, which was driven by wind gusts of nearly 50 mph, jumped Interstate 76 and spread into Phillips County.

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