High temperatures, dry grass, gusting winds and dry air contributed to fires that began over the weekend in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and New Mexico, said Patrick Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.

More than three quarters of Texas was under severe or extreme levels of drought, according to the Texas Forest Service. Hot, dry conditions and high winds meant any spark could ignite grassland.

"It's the perfect weather for fire," Texas Forest Service spokeswoman Jeanne Eastham said.

Wild fires are common this time of year across the Southern Plains. But drought conditions are especially bad in the Lone Star State, said Victor Murphy, climate service program manager for the National Weather Service southern region headquarters in Fort Worth.

"Texas is far and away the worst," Murphy said.

Texas has seen the fifth-driest period on record between October and February, and March numbers are expected to show the same, said state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.

"It doesn't look like it's going to end, either, looking at the weather patterns," Nielsen-Gammon said.

Last year's wet weather, which encouraged plenty of fuel to grow, and dry and cold conditions this year, had helped turn the grassland into tinder.

Texas Army National Guard aircraft were called in on Monday to help fight a 4,000-acre wildfire outside of Brownwood that threatened a Guard training facility.

In Oklahoma, the wild fires caused the worst damage in the panhandle and northwest portion of the state, said Michaelann Ooten, spokeswoman for the state's emergency management department. Some homes were destroyed, but assessments are not complete, she said.

"We're anticipating very dangerous fire weather again today -- in fact, through the rest of the week," she said on Monday.

No serious injuries have been reported, Ooten said, even though several auto accidents occurred outside the panhandle town of Guymon when motorists found themselves surrounded by smoke and collided into vehicles that had stopped on the roadway.

The fire in Guymon destroyed three homes and one business and cut electricity to about 1,500 homes after it burned down a line of power poles, said Fire Chief Clark Purdy.

The drought in Oklahoma is one of the worst in the state's history, Ooten said.

In Oklahoma, more than 100 fires burned across the state, damaging homes near the panhandle town of Guymon and causing numerous highway wrecks, said Michaelann Ooten of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

In southwestern Kansas, the 1,100 residents of Satanta, including the hospital and long-term care facility, were asked to evacuate after an out-of-control fire burned about 1,000 acres and threatened 250 homes in the community, the local emergency management office said.

In New Mexico, a 2,000-acre grass fire in Ruidoso has forced the evacuation of some residents near the well-known Ruidoso Downs horse racetrack. Four homes were burned by the fire which grew rapidly on Sunday because of high winds, according to local media reports..

(Additional reporting by Elliott Blackburn in Lubbock and Steve Olafson in Oklahoma City; Editing by Greg McCune)