Wildfires sweep across US states

Fires swept across the region, damaging houses and cars

Firefighters in the US states of Oklahoma and Texas are battling an outbreak of wildfires which have reportedly killed one person.

The largest fire, in Mustang, Oklahoma, has destroyed some houses and forced residents to evacuate.

Oklahoma City Fire Department spokesman Brian Stanaland told Reuters the fire was "hopscotching across the country" because the land was "dry as a bone".

Children playing with fireworks have been blamed for starting the blaze.

Winds of up to 65kmh (40mph) swept across the region, while temperatures reached unseasonable highs of 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit).

Officials in Oklahoma are considering using helicopters to help fight the blaze, and in Texas the National Guard have been mobilised.

Statewide disaster

Television reports have shown the fires moving across prairies and into housing developments, burning houses and cars.

Some residents watered their gardens in attempts to prevent flying sparks igniting the grass.

An elderly woman was killed in Cooke County, near the Texas-Oklahoma border, Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Traci Weaver told the AP news agency.

In Oklahoma City, at least six houses were destroyed and many others damaged, the local sheriff's office said.

Officials ordered people living in the path of a fire in Mustang to leave their homes. Four people were injured in the blaze, they said.

Forestry officials in Texas said there were fires across the state.

Texas Governor Rick Perry said that fires had burned 10,000 acres in December.

He has issued a statewide disaster declaration, ordering the US Forest Service and Texas Army National Guard aircraft to fight the blazes.