Wildfires that were once blazing across the panhandle of Texas are being reduced to a smolder, leaving behind smoke and a long recovery process for the region’s producers.
Most of the fires that were ripping through the area two weeks ago are either fully contained or close to it. Five separate fires combined to torch more than 1.23 million acres, the vast majority burned in the Smokehouse Creek fire in Hutchinson County.
Exact damage estimates have not been released, but according to the Texas Department of Agriculture, the fires also caused 7,260 livestock deaths. While a sizable total, the losses could have been worse. The bulk of the state’s cattle production occurs in the panhandle region, leaving millions of animals vulnerable to wildfires. USDA’s latest ag census reports there are 12.5 million head of cattle in the state, including nearly 26,000 head in Hutchinson County alone.
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As the smoke from the fire settles, a cause for most of the damage has emerged.
According to a spokesperson for the Texas A&M Forest Service, investigations into what started the Smokehouse and Windy Deuce fires determined both were “ignited by power lines.”
Xcel Energy issued a statement last week acknowledging its facilities “appear to have been involved in an ignition” of the Smokehouse fire, but the company “disputes claims that it acted negligently in maintaining and operating its infrastructure; however, we encourage people who had property destroyed by or livestock lost in the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process.”
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