Massive TX Panhandle Fire Pauses, But High Winds/Temps This Weekend; 2 Dead, 500+ Structures Gone

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The blaze stayed about the same size on Friday, just shy of 1,700 sq miles (4,400 sq km). It merged with another fire and is now 15% contained, up from 3% on Thursday, according to the Texas A&M forest service. But conditions favorable for wildfires are expected to extend through the weekend in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico, according to the National Weather Service. Strong winds, relatively low humidity and dry conditions are creating conditions that the weather service said were “resulting in a significant threat for the rapid spread of wildfires”.

In the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, temperatures will reach highs of 80F (27C) on Saturday and Sunday with wind gusts up to 50mph by Sunday, according to the NWS office in Amarillo, Texas. The relative humidity will hover at 5-10% all weekend. The largest of several major fires burning in the rural Panhandle section of the state, the Smokehouse Creek fire has also crossed into Oklahoma. Crews will focus on the northern edge of the fire and areas around structures, the forest service said.

Gray skies loomed over huge scars of blackened earth in a rural area dotted with scrub brush, ranchland, rocky canyons and oil rigs. Lee Jones, a firefighter, was helping douse the smoldering wreckage of homes in Stinnett to keep them from reigniting when the weather starts turning on Friday and continues into the weekend.

“The snow helps,” said Jones, who was among a dozen firefighters called in from Lubbock to help. “We’re just hitting all the hotspots around town, the houses that have already burned.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/01/texas-wildfire-two-killed