A vast and growing wildfire, one of several in the Texas Panhandle, has become the largest in state history, according to state statistics Thursday. The fire has burned more than 1 million acres, destroyed ranches, destroyed homes, and continues to grow out of control.
Some ranchers fought the blaze on their own by converting pickup trucks into makeshift fire engines, but the grasslands their cattle rely on for food were replaced by rolling black expanses. I've seen it happen with my own eyes. Jeff Chisholm, one of the ranchers, said he was walking with a surviving calf past the charred remains of adult cows dotted along the road.
“It's painful to watch,” Chisholm said. His ranch is just north of the town of Pampa, right in the path of Monday's fire. Almost all of his 30,000 acre ranch was burned. “We love animals and we love this country, but every time something like this happens and destroys everything, it's hard to swallow.”
The fire, known as the Smokehouse Creek Fire, is the largest of several fires that have ripped through the heart of Texas' cattle country. As of Thursday morning, only 3% had been controlled, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. The fires have so far burned at least 1.075 million acres (more than five times the size of New York City) in sparsely populated areas, surpassing the size of the state's largest-ever wildfire in 2006. Expanded.
Firefighters have limited time to battle the wildfires as strong winds and warmer, drier air are expected to return to the region over the weekend.
Firefighters are being sent to the area from other parts of Texas, some from far away. lubbock and fort worthbased on Gov. Greg Abbott's disaster declaration on Tuesday.
“We have a short window of time to react before the winds pick up again,” said Edward Andrade, chief forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Amarillo.
Forecasters said winds are expected to ease Thursday and temperatures are expected to hover in the 30s to 40s, which could help firefighters. There was a slight chance of light rain or snow, but Andrade said it would not be enough to dampen the fire.
Strong winds of about 30 mph are expected to return on Saturday, and temperatures are expected to rise into the 70s. Those conditions are likely to continue into Sunday, he said, potentially accelerating the spread of the fire and hampering efforts to extinguish it.
The rugged terrain of the Canadian River Valley, where the fire occurred, was another major obstacle for firefighters, as fire engines were unable to navigate some of the area's cliffs, valleys and steep hills. was.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire, along with other nearby fires, spread through at least 11 counties early Thursday, burning land used primarily for agriculture and ranching. The fire destroyed or damaged dozens of homes in the town of Canadian in Hemphill County.
That included the home of the county sheriff, who returned Wednesday to find his Locust Street home reduced to a pile of charred rubble and white ash.
He described how a resident stopped earlier in the day to hug him and ask if he needed food, and said the community will bounce back. “In this community, everyone comes together,” he said. “Everyone's okay.”
John Yoon and Miglena Starnadri Contributed to the report.
