Out of Control Texas Fire Has Scorched Acreage Bigger Than Dallas

The City of Dallas encompasses 386 square miles of land. This equals approximately 247,000 acres.

According to the Texas A&M Forest Service Wildfires Page, the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle has now scorched over 500,000 acres of grassland, that's twice the size of Dallas. Tragically, numerous homes, farms, and livestock have been included in the path of this blaze.

Evacuations For This Out of Control Fire

The fire started in Hutchinson County, Texas, but gusty winds have blown the fire eastward into numerous other counties in the Texas Panhandle, mainly north and northeast of Amarillo.

As of early morning Wednesday, the fire remains 0% contained and a number of evacuations or shelter-in-place orders remain. Unfortunately, high winds remain in the forecast for the next several days.

Disaster Declared

On Tuesday, February 27, Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 Texas counties in response to the ongoing devastation of the Smokehouse Creek Fire.  Abbott also directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to activate additional state emergency response resources to support local firefighters responding to multiple wildfires burning Texas.

“I issued a disaster declaration today to ensure critical fire response resources are swiftly deployed to areas in the Texas Panhandle being impacted by devastating wildfires,” said Governor Abbott. “The State of Texas stands ready to provide support to our local partners and deploy all resources needed to protect our fellow Texans and their property...I also want to thank the brave firefighters and first responders who are working tirelessly to protect their fellow Texans.”

Videos of the Fire

Several videos of this massive blaze have been posted. Live Storms Media has some of the most compelling.

Greenville Fire - Rescue, TX Facebook Page has also been posting amazing photos of the blaze that they are fighting. Be sure and look in the comments section of one of their posts to see a heart-stopping video.

Please keep all firefighters, first responders, and all those affected in your prayers.