Panhandle Wildfires (original) (raw)

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By Emily Foxhall, Jayme Lozano Carver and Carlos Nogueras Ramos, Graphics by Elijah Nicholson-Messmer Aug. 1, 2024
No state agency is taking responsibility for making sure the privately built lines that power many oil and gas sites are safe. Such lines have been blamed for sparking two recent Panhandle fires. Full Story
Craig Cowden shows parts of his property that are negligent from oil companies using his land, Sunday, July 7, 2024, at Breezy Point Ranch in Pampa, Texas. Cowden has made numerous complaints about the live wires and trash on his property.
Credit: Annie Rice for The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver May 27, 2024
Short of an immediate statewide response, Texans who lost homes and livestock are taking matters into their own hands to better prepare their property for a wildfire. Full Story
Green grass grows around plants and trees scorched by Smokehouse Creek wildfire on April 3, 2024 near Canadian. “The lands recover faster than the people,” said Janet Guthrie, a Canadian resident who raises cattle in Hemphill Co.
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver May 6, 2024
The Republican senator and congressman introduced a bill that would expand a federal aid program to pay ranchers when pregnant cattle are killed in disasters. Full Story
Cattle stand in the burn scar from the Smokehouse Creek fire Sunday, March. 3, 2024, in Hemphill County, Texas.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver Updated: May 2, 2024
A lack of air support and ineffective coordination hurt efforts to contain this year's Panhandle fires, the committee said. Full Story
A building destroyed by fire sits in ashes in the Texas R.V. Park in Fritch, TX. Snow and rainfall on Thursday offered temporary relief to firefighters battling the blaze but weather conditions this weekend may cause the fire to spread again.
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune

By Stephen Simpson and Maria Crane April 11, 2024
In testimony to state lawmakers, Dale Jenkins and his Panhandle peers shared the “hidden cost” of the wildfires. Full Story
Dale Jenkins poses for a photo inside a cattle pen where he left his livestock prior to the Smokehouse Creek fires on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 in Canadian. “You'd be out there fighting this fire and you're all by yourself,” Jenkins said. “There's not a soul round. But you've got light from the fire line. And you're working at it and concentrating so hard and finally you get to the end you finally put up the last flames and then it's just totally dark and totally quiet is a really it's an interesting feeling.”
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune

By Stephen Simpson Updated: April 3, 2024
The Texas A&M Forest Service concluded that a fallen decayed utility pole caused the Smokehouse Creek fire. Full Story
State Rep Ken King, R-Canadian, speaks during an investigative house committee hearing on the Texas Panhandle wildfires Tuesday, April 2, 2024 in Pampa. In late February, the largest wildfire in Texas history raged across the panhandle, burning just over a million acres.
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune

By Stephen Simpson Updated: April 2, 2024
A special legislative committee is investigating what caused the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest in state history. Full Story
From left, Texas A&M Forest Service Fire Chief Wes Moorehead, Director of Texas A&M Forest Service, Al Davis, and Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management Nim Kidd, sit before a House Committee investigating the Panhandle wildfires Tuesday, April 2, 2024 in Pampa. On Tuesday, testimony focused on topics relating to the largest wildfire in Texas history.
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver March 16, 2024
A series of deadly wildfires have burned for nearly three weeks, destroying farms and ranches in several counties. Full Story
A burned yucca stands in a field after the Smokehouse Creek fire Sunday, March. 3, 2024, in Hemphill County, Texas.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver March 15, 2024
As ranchers recover from the Smokehouse Creek fire, they face the agonizing choice of what to do with an unknown number of injured cattle. Full Story
Cattle stand in the burn scar from the Smokehouse Creek fire Sunday, March. 3, 2024, in Hemphill County, Texas.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver March 12, 2024
The panel of three lawmakers and two residents will also look at disaster preparedness. Full Story
Charred ground left by the Smokehouse Creek fire after the fire burned through Currie Smith’s ranch Sunday, March. 3, 2024, in Hemphill County, Texas.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver March 12, 2024
As crews fight to keep deadly blazes under control, weather conditions could increase risk of more fires. Full Story
A Chinook helicopter responds to the Roughneck fire near Sanford on March. 3, 2024.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver March 7, 2024
The wildfires offers a reminder that most of rural Texas is protected by volunteers. And there aren’t many of them. Full Story
Local firefighters work to contain a wildfire after it was whipped up by high winds in Pampa on March 2, 2024.
Credit: REUTERS/Leah Millis

By Jayme Lozano Carver Updated: March 7, 2024
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has grown to be the largest in state history. Full Story
A drone view shows firefighters spraying trees with water after the Smokehouse Creek fire burned through the area in Roberts County, on Feb. 28, 2024.
Credit: REUTERS/Nathan Frandino

By Joshua Fechter and Neelam Bohra March 5, 2024
Ranchers have likely lost thousands of cattle in the wildfires, according to some preliminary estimates. Full Story
Christy Oats, left, talks to the farmers and ranchers attending a USDA informational meeting at the Hemphill County Exhibition center in Canadian on March 5, 2024.
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune

By Joshua Fechter March 4, 2024
Rural Texans are more than twice as likely to go without homeowners insurance than their urban peers. Full Story
A burned truck sits on lot in Fritch where the fire went through while areas behind appear to be untouched Friday, March. 1, 2024.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Carlos Nogueras Ramos March 3, 2024
The fire that engulfed their town was only 15% contained over the weekend, but Canadian residents were back to selling flowers and preparing for an election. Full Story
Martin Ocasio loads pallets of cattle cubes onto a trailer to be delivered to a rancher, in the Hemphill County Extension building in Canadian on Sunday, March. 3, 2024.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Madaleine Rubin, Jayme Lozano Carver and Emily Foxhall Updated: March 3, 2024
As officials try to determine a cause for the wildfires, a Canadian homeowner filed a lawsuit blaming an energy company for the destruction. And more are expected. Full Story
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, center, speaks at a press conference with Nim Kidd chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, left, and Hutchinson County Judge Cindy Irwin, right, Friday, March. 1, 2024, in Borger, Texas.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Carlos Nogueras Ramos March 1, 2024
Shaken by the devastation, families find comfort in each other as they pick through the rubble and commune at a church in nearby Borger. Full Story
Scott McBroom looks at the rubble of his burned house Friday, March. 1, 2024, in Fritch, Texas.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Alejandra Martinez March 1, 2024
Texas wildfires have consumed acres of agricultural land, killing thousands of livestock, destroying crops and exacerbating challenges lingering from last year’s drought. Full Story
Don Gourd watches hay be loaded onto his trailer to take to neighbors affected by the Smokehouse Fire Friday, March. 1, 2024, in Borger, Texas.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Kate McGee, Jayme Lozano Carver and Madaleine Rubin Updated: March 3, 2024
Get the latest updates as firefighters continue battling massive fires that have burned more than 1 million acres. Full Story
A plane prepares drops retardant on the Roughneck fire near Sanford on Sunday, March. 3, 2024.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Emily Foxhall March 1, 2024
Texas has a wildfire season in winter, but climate change is extending it, scientists say. Full Story
Smoke hangs in the Canadian River Valley south of Stinnett, Texas after multiple days of wild fires Friday, March. 1, 2024.
Credit: Justin Rex for The Texas Tribune

By Jayme Lozano Carver and Alejandra Martinez Feb. 29, 2024
The fires have left at least two people dead and four injured firefighters. Cattle have been lost and homes and businesses decimated in their wake. Full Story
A car sits front of the burned the Rose Trailer Sales business on State Highway 136. Residents have been working to recover from the Tuesday grass fires that devastated parts of the panhandle.
Credit: Mark Rogers for The Texas Tribune

By Kate McGee, Carlos Nogueras Ramos and Pooja Salhotra Updated: March 1, 2024
Light rain and snow Thursday allowed firefighters to gain better control of the state’s largest-ever fire, which has killed at least two people. Full Story

Credit: Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

By Jayme Lozano Carver Updated: Feb. 28, 2024
The five fires have burned more than a million acres — more than double the landmass of Houston — as residents have fled or sheltered in place. Full Story
Wildfires have erupted in the Texas Panhandle this week.
Credit: Screenshot from Texas A&M Forest Service video