15 Fort Worth firefighters deploy to help contain largest wildfire in Texas history
Fifteen firefighters from the Fort Worth Fire Department have deployed to the Panhandle to help contain the Smokehouse Creek Fire, now considered the largest wildfire in Texas history.
They could be there for 14 days, the Fort Worth Fire Department said in a social media post Wednesday. The crews took two FWFD brush trucks and 1 FWFD pickup truck with them.
“These specialized and highly trained crews are joining hundreds of other firefighters working around the clock to contain these incredibly dangerous fires,” the post reads. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the residents affected by wildfire and for the safety of the crews.”
Eight of the Fort Worth firefighters deployed with the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, five with Texas A&M Task Force 1 and two with Texas Task Force 2, according to the post.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire ignited Monday in Hutchinson County, which is located in the northern portion of the Panhandle. The blaze was 0% contained as of Wednesday morning and has already burned through more than 500,000 acres, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. By Wednesday afternoon the fire was 3% contained but had grown to 850,000 acres.
By Thursday morning the Smokehouse Creek Fire had burned over 1 million acres and was still only 3% contained, the Forest Service posted on X shortly after 9 a.m. The total was an estimated 1,075,000 acres with 1,050,000 of those acres in Texas and additional damage across the border in Oklahoma.
Officials were assessing the damage and warned it could be extensive, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. Hemphill County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Kendall described the charred terrain “like a moonscape. ... It’s just all gone.”
Kendall told the AP on Wednesday that about 40 homes were burned around the perimeter of the town of Canadian, but no buildings were lost inside the community. Officials have shut down roads and evacuated residents from their homes as a cluster of fires burns out of control and threatens rural towns.
The town of Fritch, with a population of less than 2,000, lost hundreds of homes in a 2014 fire and appeared to be hit hard again, the AP reported. The people in that area are probably not “prepared for what they’re going to see if they pull into town,” Hutchinson County Emergency Management spokesperson Deidra Thomas said in a social media livestream. She compared the damage to a tornado.
On Tuesday Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties, including Hutchinson, Gray and Carson, due to the “imminent threat of widespread or severe damage” from wildfires.
The Grape Vine Creek Fire in Gray County had burned through 30,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Forest Service.
The Pantex Plant nuclear weapons facility, located northeast of Amarillo in Carson County, evacuated nonessential personnel Tuesday due to local wildfires, plant officials said on X. The plant has long been the main U.S. site for both assembling and disassembling atomic bombs, the Associated Press reported. The Pantex facility completed its last new bomb in 1991 and has dismantled thousands since.
“There is currently no fire on the plant site and emergency personnel continue to monitor the situation,” Pantex officials posted Tuesday night.
All personnel were instructed to report for duty Wednesday “for normal day shift operations.”
The Forest Service raised the Wildland Fire Preparedness Level to Level 2 on Monday due to above-normal temperatures, increased wind and dry conditions. The Forest Service responded to 13 wildfires affecting over 77,100 acres on Monday and fires have continued to grow.
Hutchinson County is around 360 miles northwest of Tarrant County.
According to the Forest Service, the 30 largest wildfires in Texas history have occurred since 1988. The largest prior to this week’s fire was the 2006 East Amarillo Complex Fire, which consumed over 907,000 acres.
GoFundMe has created a Texas Wildfires Relief Hub that includes all the verified fundraisers related to the Texas wildfires.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 12:41 PM.
