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Texas Wildfires
Status: Closed
| Type of posting | Posting date(EST): | Summary | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summary | 3/1/2024 11:00:00 AM |
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Summary | Summary
Posting Date: March 1, 2024, 11:00:00 AM
Large wildfires are currently burning across Texas and neighboring parts of Oklahoma, including the largest wildfire in Texas since reliable records have been kept. As of Friday morning, the Smokehouse Creek Fire near Amarillo, TX, has grown to 1,075,000 acres and has passed the East Amarillo Complex Fires of March 2006. Notable here is that the East Amarillo Complex Fires burned 907,245 acres but comprised numerous fires that individually were somewhat smaller in size. On the other hand, Smokehouse Creek is, for all intents and purposes, contained within a single perimeter exceeding 1 million acres. It remains to be determined what percentage of that area is actually burned, but in grassland ecosystems that percentage is often quite high, perhaps as high as 85% in some cases, due to abundant continuous fuels. This fire is currently 3% contained. Elsewhere in Texas, two other fires are burning – the Windy Deuce Fire, and the Grape Vine Creek Fire, both also in the panhandle.
The massive conflagration started on Monday, February 26th at 2:20 pm near Stinnett, TX. While the official cause of the fire remains under investigation at this time, sustained winds in excess of 40 mph (with higher gusts), low relative humidity, and warm temperatures all contributed to the fire’s quick spread. The high winds caused the fire to spread towards the east extremely fast - grass fires in high winds can spread up to 100 m/min (i.e. burning the length of a football field every minute) creating very long ‘flank’ fires on the north and south sides of the perimeter as it goes.
On Tuesday afternoon, the wind shifted and increased to almost 40 mph from the north, and that long flank fire on the south of the perimeter suddenly became a ‘head’ fire spreading towards the south in high winds. This is the reason for eyewitness reports of a “massive wall of fire”. Taken together, these steps are a near-textbook way of burning a million acres in barely more than 48 hours.
Fortunately, in the last day or so, the conditions have improved significantly. Daytime temperatures have dropped, humidity is much higher, and there was some precipitation over parts of the fire area Thursday morning. The National Weather Service bureau in Ama\rillo is not forecasting dangerous fire weather conditions for the next few days. Significant further growth of this fire is not anticipated in the next few days based on the current weather forecast. Two deaths have been reported so far as a result of this fire.
In Hemphill County, “scores” of homes have been damaged, according to Hemphill County AgriLife Extension agent Andy Holloway. In Fritch, Texas, “dozens” of homes have been impacted, according to local reports and satellite imagery in the area. The fire has also damaged at least thirteen homes in Oklahoma. Verisk analysis indicates there is likely at least $1 billion in insurable exposure at risk within the perimeter of the Smokehouse Creek fire.
The Verisk ALERT and Wildfire teams will continue to monitor the situation with these fires, and may issue additional advisories; however, no additional ALERTs are currently scheduled at this time. Please contact your Verisk representative with any additional questions about this event.
