Rain and snow are expected in parts of the Texas Panhandle starting on Thursday, bringing possible respite to the Lone Star state as firefighters continue to battle the largest wildfire in its history.
Up to 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the flames as of Monday, and at least two people have died: Cindy Owen, 44, and Joyce Blankenship, 83. Thousands of cattle have also either been killed or euthanized after being injured in the wildfires.
But a severe weather shift could bring hail and thunderstorms to the region, the National Weather Service in Amarillo, Texas, warned in a Tuesday forecast, as damaging winds continue to howl.
Still, the cooler conditions will help suppression efforts and tamp down the threat of new ignitions, according to the Texas A&M forest service.
“An underlying risk for new wildfires will continue in the Texas Panhandle and south Texas until spring green-up occurs in the abundance of grass vegetation found in these regions,” the agency said in a Tuesday update.
Several wildfires are still burning in Texas. Together they have scorched more than 1.1m acres, an area approximately five times larger than New York City. The Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest wildfire in Texas history, was only 37% contained as of Tuesday morning, Texas A&M forest service reported, and has burned through 1,059,570 acres thus far.
Additionally, the Windy Deuce fire in Moore county, at about 150,000 acres, and the Grapevine Creek fire in Gray county, about 35,000 acres, are 55% and 60% contained respectively.
As firefighters work to slow the spread of the flames, they also have to ensure new spot fires do not erupt within the fire footprints; though the Smokehouse Creek fire has covered a record amount of ground, a patchwork of scorched earth remains within its perimeters with pockets of unburned vegetation that can still catch.
“All you need is one spark and it will reignite and take off,” said public information officer Steven Bekkerus.
Additional firefighters have helped officials tackle and contain emerging wildfires, Deidra Thomas, a spokesperson for the Hutchinson county emergency management, told the Associated Press.
“Yesterday, had we not had the resources we had, that fire could have been catastrophic,” Thomas said on Monday. “We’re in a really good position today and tomorrow and hopefully through the rest of the week.”
The smaller Roughneck fire in Hutchinson county, in northern Texas, displaced about 200 families, the social worker Julie Winters told CBS. “We have some veterans that have been displaced with this, we have elderly people that have been displaced, we have young families,” she said. The blaze burned across 355 acres but was 80% contained by Tuesday morning.
Aerial images from last week show how far-reaching the wildfire destruction already is. The town of Fritch has been badly hit by the wildfires, with satellite images showing most of the 2,000-person settlement.
Elsewhere, in Miami, Texas, a small town known for its cattle industry, satellite images show the fires have burned much of the area’s land and vegetation.
Images from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere also show the wildfire spreading into parts of western Oklahoma.
Fire chief Zeb Smith also died on Tuesday, after days spent battling the blazes, in an incident unrelated to the wildfires. Brandon Strope, public information officer with the nearby city of Borger, told local reporters that Smith was pulled from a burning building he had responded to Tuesday morning. An autopsy has been ordered to determine his cause of death, while the community mourns.
“I would be remiss if I did not say Chief Smith, along with every volunteer firefighter, has responded the last nine days actively fighting fires,” Strope told Fox news affiliate WHSV.
It remains unclear what has caused the fires, but dry grassland, unusually warm temperatures and strong winds have fueled and propelled the flames. One woman whose home was destroyed in the deadly blaze has claimed that the fires were started by a “rotten” utility pole that fell to the ground and caught on fire, according to a lawsuit filed on Friday, CNN reported.
Melanie McQuiddy, who lives near Canadian, Texas, is suing Southwestern Public Service Company, its parent company Xcel Energy, and Osmose Utilities Services, a Georgia-based company that inspected the utility pole.
Kevin Cross, a spokesperson for Xcel Energy, told USA Today that an investigation into the cause of the fire was still taking place.
“Our thoughts are with the families and communities impacted by the devastating wildfires across the Texas Panhandle,” Cross said. “As members of this community, we will continue to support our neighbors in this recovery.”
