1 Million-Acre Wildfire Moves Across Texas Panhandle, Destroying Homes, Ranches and Grasslands

The landscape scorched, houses gone. Texas’ Smokehouse Creek fire has spread to more than one million acres, the largest in the state’s history. It is bigger than the 2006 East Amarillo Complex fire and the second-largest in United States history.

An abrupt shift in the direction of the wind on Wednesday caused the fire to erupt from 500,000 to 850,000 acres, reported CNN. As of Thursday morning, officials said the blaze — originally fueled by hot, dry air and strong winds — was only three percent contained.

“Wind was coming straight out of the north and made just this massive wall of fire moving across the landscape,” said Adam Turner, spokesperson for the Texas A&M Forest Service, on Wednesday, as CNN reported.

 An 83-year-old woman, Joyce Blankenship, was killed in Hutchinson County, Texas.

 “The house was gone,” Nathan Blankenship, her grandson, said, as reported by CNN.

By Wednesday afternoon, at least 31,590 acres had also been burned in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Forestry Service said.

Thursday brought cooler air with some precipitation, but warm, dry conditions are predicted to return on Friday and continue through the weekend.

“They’ve got a short window to try to get a handle on it before the winds ramp up again,” said Edward Andrade, the National Weather Service’s lead forecaster in Amarillo, as The New York Times reported.

Residents were ordered to evacuate in some parts of the Panhandle, including Gilissa and Richard Murray, who have lived in the small town of Canadian — northeast of Amarillo — for 50 years, reported Reuters.

“The house is gone and all the cars are melted,” said Murray, 72, after returning to their home on Wednesday morning, as Reuters reported. “There’s nothing left.”

Ranchers struggled to try and extinguish the flames themselves as the fire took the lives of thousands of cattle and consumed grasslands used for grazing, according to CNN and The New York Times.

Almost the entire 30,000-acre stretch of land owned by rancher Jeff Chisum was destroyed.

“It’s hard to watch,” Chisum said, as reported by The New York Times. “We’re in love with the animals and the country, and whenever something like this comes through and destroys it all, it’s hard to swallow.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a disaster on Tuesday, and firefighters from other parts of the state were deployed to help fight the blazes.

The fire originally started in the Canadian River Valley, a rugged region of cliffs and sharp hills that are difficult to navigate.

The Smokehouse Creek fire is just one of five wildfires burning across the Texas Panhandle. The others include the Windy Deuce Fire, which has razed 142,000 acres and was 30 percent contained on Thursday morning, according to CNN.

The Grape Vine Creek Fire was 60 percent contained after burning 30,000 acres; the Magenta Fire, which has destroyed 2,500 acres, was 65 percent contained; and the 687 Reamer Fire was 10 percent contained after having torched more than 2,000 acres.

A Panhandle Disaster Relief Fund was started with $1 million donated by Amarillo National Bank for wildfire victims, the financial institution said.

The U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were assisting in Texas, with federal authorities keeping in close contact with officials “on the front lines of these fires,” Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, said at a Wednesday news briefing, as Reuters reported.