Texas drought and wildfires Picture:LATEST NEWS TECHNOLOGY AND FINANCE

Texas drought and wildfires

Wildfires have blazed across Texas for several days, but the drought conditions that fed the flames have been building for many months. The ten-month period through July was the driest in Texas state history. Entire lakes have dried up. Since last November, almost 1,500 homes have burned in nearly 21,000 fires across the state. Two deaths so far have been attributed to the fires, which have forced the evacuations of thousands of residents. The Texas drought and wildfires come on the heels of the Arizona wildfire, the largest in that state's history. -- Lane Turner (44 photos total)

Ranch owner Myron Calley looks at a drying pond at his ranch near Snyder, Texas on August 12, 2011. Some Texas cities, including Waco and Tyler, have broken their record for 100-degree consecutive days. (Jae C. Hong/AP) #

An air tanker drops fire retardant on a fire in The Cliffs development on August 31, 2011 near Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram/AP) #

Mak Johnson helps move cattle into pens after they had been sold at the Abilene Livestock Auction July 26, 2011 in Abilene, Texas. The drought has caused shortages of grass, hay and water, forcing ranchers to thin their herds. The past nine months have been the driest in Texas since record keeping began in 1895, with 75% of the state classified as "exceptional drought", the highest classification. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

Sailboats are left high and dry at Benbrook Lake in Benbrook, Texas on August 16, 2011. (LM Otero/AP) #

A rain gauge stays dry on the edge of a pasture on July 28, 2011 near Canadian, Texas. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

Darren Stallwitz shows a cob that's not fully pollinated at his farm in Dumas, Texas on August 13, 2011. With less than five inches of rain since last September, Stallwitz has abandoned 16 percent of his corn. (Jae C. Hong/AP) #

Spectators gather near the Congress Street bridge in downtown Austin, Texas July 27, 2011, to watch the bats make their nightly flight for food. The largest urban bat colony in the world lives below the bridge. The drought has killed off crops, and that in turn has killed off pests the Mexican free-tailed bats eat, so they begin their nightly hunt earlier, while it's still light outside. (Charlie L. Harper III/Reuters) #

Texas State Park police officer Thomas Bigham reaches down into what remains of O.C. Fisher Lake August 3, 2011, in San Angelo, Texas. A bacteria called Chromatiaceae has turned the remaining water red. The 5400 acre lake is down to 1-2 acres. (Tony Gutierrez/AP) #

Jane Pierce, Maribel Curry, and Jan Camp seek refuge from the extreme temperatures under a string of misting hoses at a restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas August 5, 2011. (Mike Stone/Reuters) #

Ranch owner Mike Ratliff looks up to the sky while standing next to his empty hay barn in Colorado City, Texas on August 12, 2011. The ranch owner has sold 75 percent of his livestock due to severe drought conditions. (Jae C. Hong/AP) #

A young boy waits for his snow cone in Colorado City, Texas on August 12, 2011. (Jae C. Hong/AP) #

Construction worker Jose Arellano (left) wipes his face as he and Juan Martinez install fence posts along a corn field in Happy, Texas August 13, 2011. (Jae C. Hong/AP) #

Motorists drive through a dust storm along Highway 191 between Midland and Odessa, Texas on July 29, 2011. The dust cloud accompanied a line of storms that brought much needed precipitation to the drought stricken area. (Mark Sterkel/Odessa American/AP) #

Insulators on a power line are washed from a helicopter in Galveston, Texas on April 28, 2011. As the prolonged drought causes dust buildup on the lines, electricity distributors are using helicopters to clean equipment to prevent outages. (Ken Childress/CenterPoint Energy via Bloomberg) #

A cryogenic tank from the Space Shuttle Columbia was discovered in an evaporating lake bed on the shoreline of Lake Nacogdoches in east Texas, part of debris from the 2003 Columbia disaster, on August 3, 2011. (NASA/Nagodoches Police Department/Reuters) #

A portion of the Cypress Creek Arm of Lake Travis dry on July 20. (Jay Janner/Austin American Statesman/AP) #

Dead fish sit mired in the mud of O.C. Fisher Lake on July 25, 2011 in San Angelo, Texas. The 5,440 acre lake which was established to provide flood control and serve as a secondary drinking water source for San Angelo and the surrounding communities is now dry. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) #

A cow looks for a piece of green grass in the bottom of an empty stock tank at a ranch near Manor,Texas. (Jay Janner/Austin American Statesman/AP) #

The remains of a fresh water crab rest on the cracked, dry bed of Lake E.V. Spence in Robert Lee, Texas. (Tony Gutierrez/AP) #

Eddie Ray Roberts, superintendent of the waste and water department, walks on the bed of Lake E.V. Spence in Robert Lee, Texas on August 7, 2011. Roberts makes the trek toward the water line daily to check on the pump that is feeding Mt. Creek Reservoir nearly 1.3 million gallons of water daily. Every few days, Roberts or members of his small department must relocate the pump because of the receding water line. (Tony Gutierrez/AP) #

An underweight longhorn stands in a field near Stoneham, Texas in an area that was part of a 5,000-acre wildfire in June on July 14, 2011. (Jay Janner/Austin American Statesman/AP) #

A white tail doe stands by a water tank on a ranch near San Angelo, Texas. Most of the wildlife in the region relies heavily on the watering holes maintained for livestock. (Tony Gutierrez/AP) #

A San Marcos salamander, an endangered species, is measured for research at the National Fish Hatchery & Technology Center in San Marcos, Texas on August 16, 20011. As rivers and lakes are being sucked dry, wildlife experts are considering a move to new waters to save some of the state's endangered fish. (Eric Gay/AP) #

A Texas Blind Salamander, an endangered species, is displayed at the National Fish Hatchery & Technology Center in San Marcos, Texas on August 16, 20011. (Eric Gay/AP) #

Charred appliances and a fireplace are all that remain of a home in Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas on August 31, 2011, the day after a wildfire swept through the area. (LM Otero/AP) #