The Force of the Texas Wildfire, in 5 Stats

Blaze, now the largest in Texas history, remains 3% contained
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 29, 2024 11:32 AM CST
The Force of the Texas Wildfire, in 5 Stats
This satellite image shows an active fire line and burn scars from the Smokehouse Creek wildfire, northwest of Miami, Texas, on Wednesday.   (Maxar Technologies via AP)

It took just four days for a spark to become the largest wildfire ever seen in Texas. The Smokehouse Creek Fire that erupted Monday had spread to roughly 1.1 million acres on Thursday, topping the 2006 East Amarillo Complex Fire, which burned 907,245 acres, per the Houston Chronicle. It has also claimed its first human victim. More:

  • The size of Rhode Island: At 1.1 million acres, the area of destruction is now larger than the state of Rhode Island, per CBS News.
  • 3% contained: The fire continues to rage mostly out of control. Thursday brings cooler temperatures, calmer winds, and the hope of rain, but ferocious winds are expected to return Friday and last into the weekend, per the AP.

  • One dead: Joyce Blankenship, 83, was killed when the Smokehouse Creek Fire enveloped her neighborhood in Stinnett, per CBS. "The house was gone," grandson Nathan Blankenship tells CNN. "There was no way she could've gotten out." At least 20 structures in Stinnett were destroyed, an official said Wednesday.
  • 'Like a moonscape': Some 400,000 acres have burned in Hemphill County, where scores of homes and thousands of cattle have been destroyed, per CNN. There are "hundreds of cattle just dead, [lying] in the fields," Hemphill County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Kendall tells the AP. He adds the terrain looks "like a moonscape. ... It's just all gone."
  • One of five fires: Four other wildfires are burning in Texas, including the Windy Deuce Fire (142,000 acres, 30% contained, as of Thursday morning), Grape Vine Creek Fire (30,000 acres, 60% contained), Magenta Fire (2,500 acres, 65% contained), and 687 Reamer Fire (more than 2,000 acres, 10% contained), per CNN.
(More Texas wildfires stories.)

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