Ranchers canvass scorched land for damage
grisly work out here right now, to be honest.”
He saw a coyote’s carcass and wryly stated that there’s not even coyotes left to clean up the dead. No wildlife is left as far as he can tell.
While cattle producers like Gardiner spent much of Wednesday assessing their losses, fire crews were attempting to extinguish the blazes. Most of the burned land is in Kan- sas, where more than 1,000 square miles has been consumed in a series of blazes, including one believed to be the largest in the state’s recorded history.
It is too soon to know yet how many animals perished. In Clark County, where Gardiner lives, ranchers so far have lost about 2,500 adult cattle and at least 1,000 calves, said Randall Spare, co-owner of Ashland Vet- erinary Center.
Ranch hands were among those who have been killed in the fires. In the Texas Panhandle, three ranch hands died trying to save cattle from fires that have burned nearly 750 square miles.
Gray County Judge Richard Peet said it appears Cody Crockett, 20, was on horseback and his girlfriend, Sydney Wallace, 23, was nearby on foot as fire and smoke swirled around them. Peet says Wallace died of smoke inhalation. Crockett suffered burns, as did Sloan Everett, 35, who also was on horseback. Their bodies were found near each other.
A fourth person who died in Texas — Cade Koch, 25 — was trying to drive home when smoke from a separate fire to the north enveloped him.
In Kansas, the Highway Patrol said Corey Holt, of Oklahoma City, died Monday when his tractor-trailer jackknifed as he tried to back up because of poor visibility on a highway, and he succumbed to smoke after getting out of his vehicle.
About 545 square miles also has burned in Oklahoma, where a woman had a heart attack while trying to keep her farm and died.
No deaths were recorded in Colorado, where more than 45 square miles burned.