Fire chief in Texas city hit hard by wildfires dies while fighting a house fire

FRITCH, Texas (AP) — Authorities say a Texas fire chief whose small town was among the hardest hit last week by historic blazes sweeping across the Panhandle died while fighting a house fire. An official said that the house fire that Fritch Fire Chief Zeb Smith responded Tuesday morning to wasn’t caused by a wildfire, but added that the 40-year-old had been battling the wildfires for over a week. An autopsy has been ordered to determine his cause of death. Firefighters are still trying to extinguish wildfires that have been burning across the Panhandle, which includes the largest wildfire in Texas history.