Fire grows to largest in Texas history
One death confirmed; Smokehouse Creek Fire only 3% contained
Wildfires continued burning across the Texas Panhandle on Thursday, forcing widespread evacuations and causing one death as one blaze became the largest in the state’s history.
As of Thursday morning, 130 fires were burning across the state, according to the Texas A&M Fire Service. The largest of them, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, had consumed 1 million acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, and was just 3% contained. The already massive inferno grew when the 687 Reamer Fire fed into it after consuming an additional 2,000 acres of land.
“This is now the largest fire in recorded Texas history,” said Erin O’Connor, lead public information officer for the forest service, Thursday morning. The fire’s acreage indicates land within the burn zone, she said.
Meanwhile, the Windy Deuce fire had burned across at least 142,000 acres and was 30% contained, as of Wednesday evening. The Grape Vine Creek Fire was almost two-thirds contained after it blazed through 30,000 acres. The Magenta Fire had burned through an additional 2,500 acres.
O’Connor said there had only been one death officially caused by the fires: 83-year-old Joyce Blankenship, of the small town of Stinnett. The number of structures that have been damaged or destroyed isn’t yet known, though teams are investigating, O’Connor said.
The fire service said the potential for wildfires would relax later in the week, but would increase on the Texas plains amid strong winds forecast over the weekend.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to increase its readiness in response to the fires on Wednesday after he issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties in Texas the day before.
“Our firefighters should be able to make good progress and increase containment over the next couple of days.”
On Monday, the National Weather Service had forecast gusts of up to 60 mph and wildfires. “As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve also had record warm temperatures this morning and afternoon, with the opportunity to break another warm temperature record overnight,” the NWS said.
Those strong winds combined with a dry environment fueled by unseasonably high temperatures allowed the fire to rapidly spread after it sparked on Monday.
On Tuesday, the fires forced the evacuation of a nuclear weapons plant northeast of Amarillo, causing officials at the plant to halt operations that evening. The plant resumed normal operations Wednesday.
How unusual is February wildfire?
According to a report last year by the Texas State Climatologist, wildfire risk in the state is projected to increase due to increased rates of drying and increased fuel load.
Texas typically has two fire seasons, one in the winter and another in the summer, according to the Western Fire Chiefs Association.
The winter fire season runs February through April and is sometimes called the dormant fire season. Those fires can blossom as cold fronts bring high winds into the state, putting winter-dry grasses and vegetation at risk. Most of the state’s largest wildfires occur in this season.
The summer wildfire season comes in August through October, when high heat and dry conditions can spark conflagrations. These fires are especially bad in years with wet falls and winters followed by summer droughts. The intense rains create larger than usual amounts of scrub grass and brush growth that droughts then dry out, making it more liable to burn.
That was the case of the Bastrop Fire in 2011, the most destructive in the Lone Star state’s history. It killed two people, burned more than 32,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,500 homes.
Before the Smokehouse Creek Fire took the title, the largest fire in Texas state history was the East Amarillo Complex fire. The fire ignited in Hutchinson County on March 12, 2006, and blazed through more than 907,000 acres, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
It also caused 13 fatalities, making it the deadliest in the state’s history.
Historically, slightly more than 1% of the state’s land has burned each decade since 1984. Climate models project that to increase as soil and vegetation become drier by 2100.
In the Texas Panhandle, where the Smokehouse Creek Fire and others are burning, the land is flat, grassy and brush-filled, giving any fires that do start ample fuel to burn.
On Thursday, fire activity was minimal, in part because the winds have died down, O’Connor said. Also, some precipitation is forecast this week, which could “help things start to green up” and could slow the fire, she added.
“Our firefighters should be able to make good progress and increase containment over the next couple of days.”
Contributing: Dinah Pulver, USA TODAY