AMERICA’s main nuclear weapons plant in Texas was evacuated overnight as raging wildfires burned through the land nearby.
Workers were forced to flee the factory, where atomic bombs are assembled, after the inferno scorched over 250,000 acres of land.
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Eleven million people in the state are under an urgent “red flag warning” amid the strong winds and raging blaze.
Thousands have been forced to flee their homes and a state of disaster in 60 countries has been declared.
The Pantex factory has been responsible for building and disassembling atomic bombs since 1975 – and last put one together in 1991.
Thousands of nuclear warheads have also been taken apart at the site which was evacuated yesterday.
Officials said a “small number” of non-essential staff were still sheltering inside and plant operations were paused.
They said that “all weapons and special materials are safe and unaffected”.
The nuclear factory is about 30 miles from the city of Amarillo, where a state of disaster was declared.
Five different infernos are burning as part of the wildfire threat including the Smokehouse Creek Fire – which is 0% contained according to local officials.
The Grape Vine Creek Fire, Windy Deuce Fire, 687 Reamer Fire and Magenta Fire are all part of the same threat and ploughing their way through other parts of the state.
Gusts of up to 65mph are fanning the inferno – which isn’t expected to be contained soon, the National Weather Service said.
The NWS said “Stronger winds are anticipated today, and conditions will remain quite favourable for the start and spread of wildfires.”
And on Tuesday evening they added: “Critical fire weather conditions continue through this evening across all of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles due to strong west winds.”
Gregg Abbott, the Texas governor, declared it a disaster situation for 60 different countries across the region.
The Texas A&M Forest Service had to jump on over a dozen different wildfires for just over 77,000 acres on Monday.
Laef Pendergraft, a nuclear safety engineer working at Pantex said last night: “Currently we are responding to the plant, but there is no fire on our site or on our boundary.
“We have evacuated our nonessential personnel from the site, just in abundance of caution, but we do have a well-equipped fire department that has trained for these scenarios and is on-site watching and ready should any kind of real emergency arise on the plant site.
 “We also have a fully-staffed emergency response organization who has activated.
“We are monitoring the scene and we will continue on through the night to ensure that the Pantex plant is protected and safe.”
This morning Pantex announced on Twitter that the factory had reopened for “normal day shift operations” and all staff had returned to the plant.
The fires have sparked serious damage to homes and businesses in Hutchinson County – also causing power and water shortages.
Official Jerry Langwell said yesterday: “The damage is bad. You would be shocked if you were to travel between here and Borger.”
Hundreds of those evacuated from their homes were forced to take shelter inside the local church.
And over 13,000 people in the country were left without power on Tuesday evening.
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