wildfire

AMARILLO, Texas (May 6, 2026) — May is Wildfire Awareness Month, a reminder that extreme weather and drier conditions mean that wildfires are a near year-round, growing threat. Xcel Energy is encouraging customers to get Wildfire Aware, Wildfire Prepared.

Some areas of Texas are experiencing about 35 more fire weather days per year than they did in the 1970s. This year, unseasonably warm and dry weather and very dry vegetation are expected to increase wildfire risks beyond the “normal” wildfire season.

Five big moves from the Lege in 2025

The Texas Legislature made a host of major decisions in 2025, as The Dallas Morning News reported. Here are the highlights:

• Homeowners received a break on their property taxes after approving a proposed constitutional amendment in November. The homestead exemption was increased to $140,000 from $100,000. People 65 and older were given an additional $60,000 exemption on top of that.

CANADIAN — The ranchers of Hemphill County, still recovering from the devastating 2024 Smoke House Creek Wildfire, have once again demonstrated their unwavering spirit of service—this time turning their attention to fellow Texas ranchers impacted by the historic July 2025 floods along the San Saba, Guadalupe, Llano, Colorado, and Concho Rivers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced the release of Congressionally mandated Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) payments to cover grazing losses due to eligible drought or wildfire events in 2023 and/or 2024. Secretary Rollins committed on May 7 to release these emergency payments by May 30, and today she is delivering on that commitment ahead of schedule.

AMARILLO, Texas (Mar. 16, 2025) – Xcel Energy has successfully restored power to nearly all 68,000 customers affected by the historic windstorm on Friday, March 14. The storm caused significant damage to power infrastructure, prompting crews to replace nearly 20,000 feet of wire, 140 power poles, about 340 pole cross arms and nearly 50 transformers since Friday.

Voucher bill has backing of House majority

A slim majority of Texas House members have indicated they will back House Bill 3, which creates education savings accounts that allow families to use taxpayer money for private school education. The Dallas Morning News reported that 75 Republican legislators have signed on with the bill’s author, state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Salado, to support the measure.

CANADIAN—Local ranchers, landowners, and community leaders are invited to join the Hemphill/Roberts Counties Wildfire Preparedness Meeting, hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, to strengthen wildfire mitigation and emergency readiness. The meeting will take place on February 13, 2025, at the Hemphill County Annex in Canadian. 

Months before the Texas Panhandle erupted with destructive wildfires, fire crews in Borger were igniting fire intentionally on a seven-mile, roughly 250-foot wide ribbon of land on the edge of town.

The prescribed burn in November removed dense grass and brush next to homes on the southwest side of the town. When the Windy Deuce fire ravaged the region in February, the prescribed burn area acted as a fireproof wall that stopped the blaze in its tracks.

WASHINGTON, DC — Yesterday, Congressman Ronny Jackson (TX-13) and Senator Ted Cruz (TX) introduced the Livestock Indemnity Program Enhancement Act to help Texas livestock producers recover from the devastating wildfires that occurred in the Texas Panhandle earlier this year.

Agencies blasted over wildfire oversight

State agencies and regulators were heavily criticized at a Texas legislative hearing for failing to communicate during the deadly Panhandle wildfires, the Texas Tribune reported.

The three-day hearing, held in Pampa, investigated the Smokehouse Creek fire and others that burned more than a million acres, destroyed hundreds of homes, killed up to 10,000 cattle and resulted in two deaths.