'Texas is burning from border to border': Million acres scorched after wildfires blaze for a week. Now towns are put on red alert - 20th Apr 2011

Wildfires raging for more than a week in Texas have so far burned through a million acres of land and show no signs of dying down.

Firefighters continue to battle some 22 separate blazes throughout the state, with some dangerously close to the Oklahoma border. Homes have been gutted, animals killed and hundreds of residents have been forced to leave their homes because of the advancing flames.

One of the wildfires in PK West, Stephens County, increased in size by a staggering 87,238 acres in just one day - a 144 per cent increase.

Even prisons have been emptied in some towns. The drought-stricken state, that experienced its driest March on record, is desperately hoping for the rain that has been forecast in the coming days.

Fire crews from 34 states have now joined the effort to bring the fires under control.

April Saginor, from the Texas Forest Service, told CNN Radio: 'We're actually seeing Texas burn from border to border. We've got it in West Texas, East Texas, in North Texas, in South Texas - it's all over the state.'

'We've got one in the Dallas area that's four fires that have actually merged together.'

She added: 'Some are over 100,000 acres, and they've been burning for over a week, so that's our priority right now, to put out the big ones.' Read More