The Smokehouse Creek Fire: What have we learned? What do we know? How many structures have been destroyed in the Stinnett, Texas, wildfires?
The damages done to this area have been completely gone and nothing left, Abbott said during the news conference. He said a preliminary assessment found 400 to 500 structures had been destroyed.
Texans know that fires aren’t uncommon in the Panhandle this time of year, and neither is snow. But huge, lethal fires like Smokehouse Creek represent something different. Winter fires on this scale signal a much larger disruption to climate stability that will distort not only our concept of seasons, but everything we do and care about.
The largest blaze, the Smokehouse Creek fire, which began Monday, has killed at least two people, and left a charred landscape of scorched prairie, dead cattle and burned-out homes. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, although strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm weather fed the flames.
The National Weather Service forecast for the coming days warns of strong winds, relatively low humidity and dry conditions that pose a “significant” wildfire threat.
“We face enormous fire dangers as we head into this weekend, everyone needs to know that,” Abbott said. “No one can let down their guard. Everyone must remain very vigilant.”
The town of Stinnett, population 1,600, has been devastated by the Smokehouse Creek fire, with melted street signs and charred frames of cars and trucks. The homes were reduced to piles of rubble. An American flag propped up outside a destroyed house.
Texas agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller predicted that the fires would have a minimal effect on the Texas cattle industry and consumer beef prices.
Gogov. Abbott’s Texas wildfires may destroy up to 500 structures: The 83-year-old Joyce Blankenship of Owen’s burned home
Two women were killed in the fires. With the fires still raging in the area, authorities have yet to thoroughly search for victims or determine the extent of damage.
Sgt said that Cindy Owen encountered fire or smoke when she drove south of Canadian in Texas. Chris Ray is a state Department of Public Safety employee. She got out of her truck, and flames overtook her.
The other victim, an 83-year-old woman, was identified by family members as Joyce Blankenship, a former substitute teacher. Her grandson, Lee Quesada, said deputies told his uncle Wednesday that they had found Blankenship’s remains in her burned home.
During a visit to the US-Mexico border on Thursday, President Joe Biden told federal officials to do everything they could to help fire-affected communities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has guaranteed Texas and Oklahoma will be reimbursed for their emergency costs, the president said.
The size of the fire and its forecast on the weekend are some of the challenges firefighters face.
Kidd doesn’t want the community to believe that the fires will not grow anymore. “This is still a very dynamic situation.”
Jeremiah Kaslon, a Stinnett resident who saw neighbors’ homes destroyed by flames that stopped just on the edge of his property, seemed prepared for what the changing forecast might bring.
“Around here, the weather, we get all four seasons in a week,” Kaslon said. It can get warm, cold and snowing on the next day. It’s just that time of year.
Source: Gov. Abbott says Texas wildfires may have destroyed up to 500 structures
Three Days During the Smokehouse Fire: A Redux from Cincinnati, a Thousand Days Before the Breakout of the Second Fires of the War
Encroaching flames caused the main facility that disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal to pause operations Tuesday night, but it was open for normal work by Wednesday. The small town of Fritch, which lost hundreds of homes in a 2014 fire, saw 40 to 50 more destroyed this week, Mayor Tom Ray said.
Two weeks before the Smokehouse Fire broke out, I flew to Seattle from Cincinnati over a landscape I know well. There was virtually no snow or ice from the Ohio River to the Rockies, but below my window seat lay a country where I had barely heard of. I know what the month of February looks like, but what season was it this year?