The largest fire in Texas history, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, is now 100 percent contained after scorching 1,058,482 acres and structures and killing at least three people and thousands of cattle over three weeks.
Smaller fires, such as the Windy Deuce, Wellhouse, Grape Vine Creek, and Mills Creek, burned 179,000 acres but were also reported as entirely contained by the Texas A&M Forest Service.
According to CBS News, officials now believe that powerlines started the fire. Xcel Energy has admitted that some of its equipment may have contributed to the fire.
The road to recovery for the Panhandle will likely be a long one. The Texas Tribune reported that over 7,000 head of cattle are estimated as a dead, but the final numbers could reach up to 10,000 as ranchers decide whether severely injured cattle need to be euthanized.
“Their hooves are burned off, their utters are burnt beyond — they can’t nurse their babies,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told CBS News. “We’ll actually end up having to put a lot of cattle down just because they won’t be able to make it, even though they survived.”
While the losses are not anticipated to impact the cattle market as a whole in the U.S. (there are over 11 million head of cattle in Texas alone), the losses are no less devastating for local ranchers.
One rancher told Miller that they lost 700 cows. Another young couple, just starting, lost all 200 head of their herd.
It’s not just cattle that have been lost. The fires have devastated precious rangeland and crops, particularly cotton. Ranchers with cattle who survived the blaze struggle to find themselves without power, as 120 miles of powerlines have been burned down. Ranchers have difficulty getting to their livestock, and seven grain and seed dealers were burned down.
Aside from losing precious forage and other resources, flames also burned down miles of fencing. Roberts County Judge Mitchell Locke told the Texas Tribune that downed fences make estimating livestock losses difficult.
“Because the fences are gone, the cattle might be 10 miles away from where they originally were, or they might be dead,” said Locke.
The Canadian FFA Chapter lost its entire ag farm to the Smokehouse Creek Fire. The chapter’s agriculture advisor, a fire chief, has shared images and videos from the blaze, including scenes of Jack Craft, the Canadian FFA chapter’s president, fighting the blaze.
@bameier1 Due to the wildfires in the Panhandle the Canadian FFA has lost our FFA Ag farm. Big thanks to the fire depts for all they have done! #ffa #ag #farm #wildfire #texas #school #smokehousecreekfire #2024wildfires #fyp #firetruck ♬ Sad Music – Max-Music
The Randal FFA Chapter has designed a shirt that they are selling for $20. The proceeds will go to the Canadian FFA to help rebuild their program.
Other relief efforts in the region are ongoing. Videos and photos of caravans of supplies and hay can be found across social media, while the U.S. Small Business Administration has set up disaster loan outreach centers in the towns of Canadian and Borger for people affected by any of the Panhandle wildfires.
Texas’ agriculture relief fund has received over $800,000 in donations for farmers and ranchers devastated by the fire, while areas to donate livestock supplies have also been established around the Panhandle.