• Cost of containing fires throughout the state has spiralled to more than $8million
• 22 separate blazes burning throughout Texas
• One fire in Stephen County increased in acreage by nearly 90,000 in just 24 hours
  
• Hundreds have been evacuated and fears grow of flames spreading to big cities
• Some fires burning dangerously close to Oklahoma border, where conditions are also ripe for spread
• Rain forecast for next few days giving weary firefighters some hope
  

Wildfires, raging for more than a week in Texas, have so far burned through a million acres of land and racked up more than $8million in containment costs. 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 24 hours -  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.

Firefighters continue to battle some 22 separate blazes throughout Texas. Homes have been gutted, animals killed and hundreds of residents have been forced to leave their homes

Survivor: A home under construction that just missed the damage from wildfires near Possum Kingdom Lake. There is now growing fear that this wildfire may get as far as Fort Worth - one of Texas' largest cities with nearly 750,000 residents

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.'

Lit up: The Texas Forest Service undertook a series of 'controlled burns' at the weekend to get rid of fuel on the mountains around McDonald Observatory, seen right

Close call: A running wildfire encroaches on a large home in Strawn, Texas. Dozens of area homes have been destroyed in the wildfires

There is now growing fear that a wildfire racing through parched fields and woods west of Texas may get as far as Fort Worth - one of Texas' largest cities with nearly 750,000 residents.

This particular fire started on Friday near Possum Kingdom Lake, 70 miles west of Fort Worth, and linked up with several smaller blazes.

By yesterday, it had burned nearly 150,000 acres, destroyed 30 homes and a church and forced hundreds of residents to flee the area, Texas Forest Service spokesman Marq Webb said.

However Webb said crews would be able to use firefighting tactics to keep the blaze from the city.

Red skies: A firefighter walks in front of a huge blaze heading towards a home in Strawn. New wildfires are starting daily, according to authorities

Red alert: Emergency crews have been taking to light air craft to drop fire retardant slurry in Texas this week after the fires raged out of control

A deer running from wildfires near Possum Kingdom Lake and (right) the bird's-eye view of the region

'It's still a long way out there. God help us if it goes that far,' Webb said. 'Stranger things have happened, but we're not even thinking that at this point.'

The statewide drought, hot temperatures and gusting winds have made for ideal conditions that have allowed wildfires to ignite and spread quickly across much of the state.

But the dry conditions in the neighbouring state of Oklahoma is also a worry for officials. Several large scale fires are currently mapped on the state line and two are in Oklahoma itself.

The National Interagency Fire Center's criteria for a large wildfire is 100 acres of timber or 300 acres of grass or brush.

Authorities ordered the 400 residents of Palo Pinto, about 50 miles west of Fort Worth, to leave the city yesterday evening because of the advancing flames, said Trooper Gary Rozzell of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The county's jail inmates also were evacuated.

But in other towns between the fire and Fort Worth, residents didn't seem worried that the blaze could reach them.

'We don't have the underbrush here, and there are many communities and other developed areas before the fire would get to Fort Worth or Dallas,' said Jimmy Peters, who lives in Willow Park, about 30 miles west of Fort Worth.