LUBBOCK, Tex (Reuters) – Wildfires scorched more than 230,000 acres in Texas on Sunday, roaring through a West Texas town, destroying an estimated 80 homes and buildings and critically injuring a firefighter.

The Texas Forest Service reported more than 60,000 acres burned and 40 homes lost in one blaze that raced through West Texas and into the small mountain town of Fort Davis. The fire rushed across 20 miles in 90 minutes.

Officials at the scene, however, estimated at least 100,000 acres in two counties had burned from the fire, which continued to grow Sunday evening.

"I can only describe it as an ocean of black, with a few islands of yellow," State Representative Pete Gallego said.

Flames "licked at the edges" of the town but did not burn their way through its center, sparing more buildings than expected, he said.

But 17 to 20 homes were destroyed, and as many as 30 more buildings were burned, he said after visiting the town, including a more than 100-year-old historic wooden ranch home. Residents had worked overnight to save their homes and moved on to help their neighbors, he said.

Hot spots still burned along the highway, and a glow from miles away was visible at night, he said.

"Even now, the flames in some places are 15 to 20 feet high," Gallego said.

The town was without power Sunday evening. Gallego said many of the residents may not have been insured for fire.

Presidio County Emergency Management Coordinator Gary Mitschke said it was the first fire to scare him in 13 years of fighting grass fires. The blaze crossed railroad tracks and state highways as it roared past Fort Davis, he said.

Without a change in winds, which were keeping aircraft from helping firefighting efforts, the fire could burn for days or weeks, he said.

"Frankly, it moved almost as quick as a truck," Mitschke said. "When you hear the word firestorm, this is what I imagine."

A federal emergency management spokesman said a fire grant for the county had been approved Saturday and that the agency stood by to support as needed.

Wildfires fed by dry, windy conditions have charred more than 270,000 acres in eight days across Texas, burning homes, killing livestock and drawing in crews and equipment from 25 states.

Plants that thrived in wet weather turned to tinder under a cold, dry winter. Weeks of high winds and little moisture have made every spark dangerous.

A Texas firefighter was in critical condition with severe burns Sunday afternoon after fighting an estimated 60,000-acre fire in the northern Panhandle.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, but it started in an isolated area near a natural gas plant and a few other industrial sites in an empty town called Masterson, said David Garrett, an emergency management spokesman for Moore County.

"Kind of like a wide spot in the road that has a name," Garrett said. "The fire started in open country and stayed in open country."

Two nearby communities were considered threatened but were not evacuated late Sunday afternoon, according to the forest service.

A Midland County wildfire burned 40 homes and at least 15,000 acres, according to the service.

Crews had stopped from crossing a highway a sprawling 71,000-acre fire that killed almost 170 head of cattle in Stonewall County, spokesman Lee McNeely said.

Air tankers had dropped 60,000 gallons of retardant to help slow the blaze.

Firefighters had most of the day to prepare for a cold front with gusting winds, McNeely said.

High winds and dry conditions were expected to persist into the evening across West Texas, the National Weather Service warned.

In Oklahoma, where Governor Mary Fallin has extended a 30-day state of emergency she declared on March 11, firefighters and helicopters on Sunday mopped up the smoldering remains of two fires that erupted Saturday.

One wildfire in Cleveland in north central Oklahoma charred more than 1,500 acres and forced 350 people to evacuate while another struck near Granite in southwest Oklahoma, said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Emergency Management.

(Additional reporting by Steve Olafson in Oklahoma City; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Jerry Norton)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States has moved closer to $4, jumping more than 19 cents since mid-March to a level less than 10 percent below its all-time high, a widely followed survey said on Sunday.

The Lundberg Survey said the national average price of self-serve, regular unleaded gas was $3.765 on Friday, up from $3.573 on March 18, and up 91.3 cents from $2.852 a year ago.

Prices in several western U.S. cities are already above $4 per gallon, led by San Francisco at $4.13. Chicago was close behind at $4.11 a gallon, the survey said.

The national average would have been higher had refiners and retailers not resisted passing on rising crude oil prices as customers grow less willing to pay what it takes to fill their gas tanks, analyst Trilby Lundberg said in an interview.

"Demand has been falling at these prices," she said.

The record high average pump price is $4.112 set on July 11, 2008. Lundberg tracks roughly 2,500 gas stations.

Crude oil prices are higher amid unrest in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East, as well as a weaker U.S. dollar, which on Friday fell to a 15-month low against the euro.

A falling dollar often lifts dollar-denominated commodities such as oil. This is because some investors use commodities as an inflation hedge, and consumers who use other currencies may view the commodities as cheap and buy more, driving up prices.

U.S. crude settled Friday at $112.79 per barrel, after earlier reaching its highest intraday price since September 2008. ICE Brent crude settled at $126.65 per barrel, the highest settlement since July 2008.

Even if crude prices do not change, Lundberg said pump prices could rise another dime per gallon as earlier increases work their way into the retail market.

"One gets a little bit depressed talking about it, but we are getting closer" to a $4 per gallon average, though "there is no telling" when or whether it will occur, Lundberg said.

The average price for diesel fuel did top $4 per gallon for the first time since 2008, rising to $4.09 from $3.978 three weeks earlier, and $3.056 a year ago, according to the Lundberg survey, which is done in Camarillo, California.

The lowest average price for a gallon of unleaded gas in the 48 contiguous states was in Tucson, Arizona, at $3.41, Lundberg said. San Francisco had the highest price.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by Maureen Bavdek)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Severe weather including damaging winds, rain and hail cut through the Midwest and Plains on Sunday and is forecast to move eastward overnight.

The severe weather continued for a second day after a large tornado, part of a volatile storm system caused by a springtime warm weather front, left significant damage in Iowa.

"As some residents of the Plains, Ohio Valley and Southeast found out on Saturday, the atmosphere is ripe for severe weather, including tornadoes," said Accuweather.com senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

"This could prove to be a memorable event for the Heartland," he said.

Sosnowski warned that the atmospheric conditions could bring risks of loss of life over the next few days as the slow-moving system crawls across the eastern half of the United States until it reaches the Northeast on Monday night.

The area from western New York and Ohio to Louisiana will be at the most risk for damaging weather, accuweather.com said.

Iowa governor Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency after the storm that destroyed over half the town of Mapleton, but left no one seriously injured among its 1,200 residents, according to local law enforcement.

The peak U.S. tornado season lasts from March until early July, the period when warm, humid air often has to thrust upward against cool, dry air.

This weekend's storm was caused by a front of warm air surging northward across the country's midsection, bringing very warm temperatures with some areas posting possible record highs.

Another day of record-breaking heat into the 90s was forecast for Nashville and much of Tennessee. This after Saturday's temperatures hit an all-time record high for the date of 91 degrees in Nashville.

It also was the earliest date on record that Nashville had hit the 90-degree mark, according to Bobby Boyd, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Nashville.

In the northern plains, the Red River on Sunday had started a gradual decline in the Fargo-Moorhead area of North Dakota after reaching a preliminary crest at the fourth-highest level on record with rain storms lighter than expected.

"Fortunately, most of the precipitation is coming in as pretty light," said Greg Gust, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

The Red River rose rapidly last week and appeared ready to threaten the 40.84 foot record crest at Fargo of two years ago. However, the rise had slowed considerably by Saturday.

The weather service said Sunday the river had reached a preliminary crest in the Fargo-Moorhead area at 38.75 feet Saturday night with prolonged flooding expected.

Crews battled more than 65,000 acres of wildfires on Sunday that caused the evacuation of a West Texas town, destroyed 90 homes and critically injured a firefighter.

In Oklahoma, where Governor Mary Fallin has extended a 30-day state of emergency she declared on March 11, firefighters and helicopters on Sunday mopped up the smoldering remains of two fires that erupted Saturday.

One wildfire in Cleveland in north central Oklahoma charred more than 1,500 acres and forced 350 people to evacuate while another struck near Granite in southwest Oklahoma, said Michelann Ooten, spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Management. Damage assessments are still being compiled, she said.

(Additional reporting by Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Kay Henderson in Des Moines, David Bailey in Minneapolis, and Elliott Blackburn in Texas; Editing by Jerry Norton)