Wildfires raging across four states, fanned by winds and fueled by a drought-starved prairie, have killed at least six people and burned more than 2,300 square miles.

Winds in western Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle were easing somewhat on Wednesday, but weather officials said that conditions were challenging for fire crews and were expected to worsen on Thursday and Friday, renewing concerns about getting the fires under control.

“These conditions will make it somewhat easier for firefighting efforts, but far from perfect,” Bill Bunting, forecast operations chief for the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center, told The Associated Press. “The fires still will be moving.”

“The ideal situation is that it would turn cold and rain,” he said, “and unfortunately, that’s not going to happen.”