Wildfires Bring Devastation To Panhandle As Firefighters Continue To Battle Multiple Fires

The wildfires from Monday and Tuesday have brought devastation to our region and continue to burn Wednesday morning.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire which began on Monday near Stinnett moved east with the strong winds on Tuesday and led to the evacuations of multiple communities including Glazier, Canadian, Wheeler, and Miami.

Parts of the city of Fritch were also under a mandatory evacuation for those in the Double Diamond, Arrowhead and Maverick Village additions.

In Stinnett, they ordered Highway 152 South Wilhelm and Davis to evacuate as well as those from El Ranch back to Gorman and Scott’s Acres.

The city of Pampa suggested voluntary evacuations Tuesday evening as well.

Firefighters were having a hard time getting the fires under control due to the high winds and rough terrain. Once the winds shifted, it brought another challenge.

While the number has not been confirmed, there have been reports of possibly dozens of homes both on the north and south sides of Canadian that were lost.

Reports are also coming in that dozens of homes in and around Fritch have been burned.

Both Canadian and Miami ISD canceled classes for Wednesday. They both were also set to have boys’ playoff basketball games on Tuesday night which were postponed to Wednesday.

As of 8 a.m.:

The Smokehouse Creek Fire has now burned 500,000 acres and was zero percent contained.

The Grape Vine Creek Fire which began east of Lefors on Monday has now burned 30,000 acres and was 60 percent contained.

The Windy Deuce Fire had burned 40,000 acres and was 20 percent contained.

Another fire has started in Hutchinson County just north of Lake Meredith, the 687 Reamer, and it has burned 2,000 acres and is 10 percent contained.

Evacuations were also in order for some towns in Oklahoma including Optima and Shattuck.
 

Weather Situation Created Horrible Fire Conditions Resulting In Massive Losses

Conditions came together on both Monday and Tuesday that created the perfect storm for a horrible fire day in the Panhandle.

Ed Andrade with the National Weather Service said Wednesday morning, “It did unfortunately. The meteorology part of this event yesterday was the high winds that were expected, and the low humidities, the well-above normal temperatures and the fact that we already had ongoing fires from the day before, all that did was serve to keep those big fires going. Unfortunately, these fires did go into communities and cities.”

The cold front they were predicting moved through and turned the winds which caused the fires to begin moving south. “That made everything complicated for the firefighters. In fact, when that cold front came through Amarillo, our office almost had to evacuate because the Windy Deuce fire started driving southward into Potter County and the fire was coming close to where we were going to have to leave and have Lubbock take over. So, this affected a lot of people yesterday,” Andrade added.

He also mentioned that it was hard to get a handle on the number of fires because, “What was happening, that large fire that originated in Hutchinson County two days ago, some of that large fire had additional fires from it. So, they didn’t necessarily name them, but it was considered part of that fire.”

He said what was different about wildfires from the past was the number of communities that were under the gun. Andrade said, “I was here for the 2006 fire season but what was different about this outbreak was the number of communities that had to be evacuated. I don’t recall any other major fire outbreak where we’ve had these fires that were impacting people so much.”

Andrade also noted that unfortunately, fire danger conditions are set to return. We will have warm temperatures, low humidities and high winds on both Saturday and Sunday.

---Photo taken west of Canadian on South River Road