Largest wildfire in Texas history is still burning

An inferno fueled by dry, abnormally warm conditions has destroyed as many as 500 structures, scorched more than 1 million acres of land and killed at least two people since igniting in the Texas Panhandle last week, according to state officials.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest of the four active wildfires ripping across the region, covers an area greater than the size of Rhode Island, according to The Associated Press. The blaze was 15% contained on Saturday and has spread into Oklahoma, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. It is the largest wildfire on record in Texas.

“When you look at the damage that has occurred here, it’s just gone, completely gone,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said during a news conference Friday. “Nothing left but ashes on the ground.”

Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties on Tuesday.

President Biden, during a trip Thursday to the U.S.-Mexico border, thanked first responders for “risking their lives to save others” and pledged to help “everyone affected by these wildfires.”

It is unclear what started the fire, and authorities are investigating.

Here’s what you need to know about the largest wildfire in Texas history.

How big is the fire?

The Smokehouse Creek Fire has burned through about 1,076,000 acres in Texas and Oklahoma, leaving dead cattle, burned crops and charred homes in its wake. It was 15% contained at about 3 p.m. local time Saturday.

There are three other active wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma, according to the National Interagency

Fire Center.

As of Saturday afternoon, the Grape Vine Creek Fire covered 30,000 acres and was 60% contained. The Windy Deuce Fire covered about 142,000 acres and was 60% contained. The Magenta Fire had burned 3,300 acres and was 85% contained as of Friday morning.

How is the weather affecting the wildfires?

Record-breaking high temperatures coupled with low relative

humidity and strong winds have fueled the Panhandle wildfires. Winter temperatures hit 100 degrees in Killeen, 93 degrees in Dallas and 82 degrees in Amarillo on Monday — the day the fires began, according to The Washington Post. (For reference: Amarillo’s Feb. 26 average is 59 degrees.)

There was a brief respite Thursday, when lower temperatures and light snow showers slowed the fires and made them easier to fight. However, warm, dry, windy conditions across

the Texas Panhandle over the weekend posed a “very high” wildfire threat, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Temperatures in the region were in the high 70s and 80s on Saturday, with wind gusts as high as 45 mph, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a “red flag warning” because of high fire danger through Sunday evening.

On Sunday, temperatures were expected to be in the high 70s and low 80s, with wind gusts of up to 50 mph.

How many people have died?

Authorities have attributed two deaths to the fire.

Cindy Owen, a 44-year-old truck driver from Amarillo, died two days after getting caught in the Smokehouse Creek Fire on Tuesday, Owen’s sister-in-law Jennifer Mitchell told CNN. First responders found her alive outside the truck and took her to an Oklahoma City burn unit where she died, Mitchell said.

Joyce Blankenship, 83, was found dead in her burned home in Stinnett, Tex., according to AP. She was a former substitute teacher. The circumstances of Blankenship’s death were not immediately clear.

What other damage has occurred?

Texas is the nation’s top cattle producer, and the Panhandle is home to 85% of that livestock, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.

While it’s unclear how many cattle have been killed in the wildfires from either burns or smoke inhalation, the number is likely to be in the thousands, according to the AP.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told NPR that while individual ranchers and farmers could suffer losses as a result of the blaze, the overall impact on the Texas cattle industry and consumer beef prices would be minimal.

Destroyed crops, agricultural land and power lines are worrying farmers and ranchers in the region. There is little food or water remaining for their herds, according to the Texas Tribune. Abbott told reporters Friday that the wildfires have destroyed about 400 to 500 structures.

DESIREE RIOS/THE NEW YORK TIMES Angela Noble in Fritch, Texas, assesses the charred remains of her home, which was burned to the ground in the Smokehouse Creek Fire on Thursday. The wildfire, which ignited on Monday, has burned more than one million acres and a number of houses in the Texas Panhandle.