POTTER COUNTY, Texas — Three days after the Smokehouse Creek Fire began burning, Potter County Judge Nancy Tanner made the 45-minute drive from her office in Amarillo to Borger – which is one county away.
“The ground was black. There was no green. There were no trees. Everything was black,” Tanner said on Inside Texas Politics.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire grew into what is the largest wildfire in Texas’s recorded history.
More than one million acres of land burned.
At least 7,000 heads of cattle died – possibly more, in multiple fires across the Panhandle.
The blazes are now fully under control.
Tanner said the governor and emergency management personnel from across Texas promised help at that meeting in Borger and they haven’t stopped.
“They said, 'Whatever you need, we'll do whatever it takes,'” she said, praising the state’s efforts.
“Donations are pouring in from all over the state,” Tanner added. “I have a meeting with my agent on Monday to decide who gets what.”
Disaster-related Small Business Association loans are now available to impacted residents, Gov. Greg Abbott announced.
Abbott also received approval for a Federal Emergency Management Agency request for a Fire Management Assistance Grant, which means the state will be eligible for reimbursement for 75% of the cost of fighting the Smokehouse Creek and Windy Deuce fires.
Tanner said the impact on beef packing plants and agriculture will trickle down to consumers across the state and beyond.
“With all that cattle lost, there will be an effect,” she said. “I don't know how bad it will be or how sudden it will be or if it's going to be lingering, but it will have an effect on the state because a lot of people get their beef from this area.”
House Speaker Dade Phelan just announced the formation of a five-member investigative committee to study how the historic wildfire started and spread.
The committee will also look at the allocation and effectiveness of firefighting resources and review the coordination between local, state, and federal entities involved in preparedness and response.
Phelan ordered the committee to submit its findings by May 1.
Texas A&M Forest Service investigators ruled power lines caused the fire, but the agency has not elaborated on how.