The largest fire ever recorded in Texas history ignited on Feb. 26 and has since stayed ablaze and further increased in size due to gusty winds and unusually dry, warm conditions.
The Smokehouse Creek fire expanded to around 1,075,000 acres in size as of Feb. 29. A chance to contain the fires seems like an unlikely scenario at the time being.
“I believe the fire will grow before it gets fully contained,” Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said in a statement.
According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, the fires are estimated to be 3% contained. A cold front that bizarrely brought aid in the form of snow to firefighters assisted in the extinguishing effort, but it hasn’t completely eradicated the threat.
Only one fatality has been confirmed to be an 83-year-old grandmother from the town of Stinett, but the number could increase as authorities are yet to thoroughly investigate any of the affected areas.
Creekhouse isn’t the only fire affecting Texas. Accompanied with the large wildfire are other smaller wildfires ravaging the region, with some fires even burning near the Texas-Oklahoma border.
These fires don’t present a foreseeable end in sight, seeing as dry weather will continue to take over the forecast which will only heighten the fires.
“This is now both the largest and most destructive fire in Texas History,” the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department posted on Facebook. “It is also the second largest wildfire in U.S. history.”
