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The Texas Tribune
The Texas Tribune
National
Emily Foxhall

Texas requires utilities to plan for emergencies. That didn’t stop the Panhandle fires.

Brooke McQuiddy looks through some of her mother, Melanie McQuiddy’s possessions recovered from the property. Melanie McQuiddy’s mobile home was on the lot in the background when the fire swept through. Canadian, Tx. residents were cleaning up and recovering from the massive wild fires that burned much of the northern Texas panhandle.
Brooke McQuiddy sorts through some of her mother's possessions in Canadian on March 5, 2024. The mobile home her mother, Melanie McQuiddy, lived in, was on the lot in the background when the fire swept through. (Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune)

Before it burned to a pile of ashes, Melanie McQuiddy’s house on the outskirts of Canadian was her family’s home base. Her daughter and grandchildren flocked there for holidays. At Christmastime, she put a tree in every room and transformed herself into “Mimi-Claus,” complete with a wig and red costume dress.

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