Texas
‘Ghastly sight’: Thousands of cattle killed in historic 2024 Texas Panhandle wildfires
“It’s a ghastly sight,” Sid Miller, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, told USA TODAY.
Texas panhandle wildfires burn cars, buildings
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has become the largest fire in Texas history.
Thousands of livestock have been killed in the wildfires that’ve ripped across the Texas Panhandle over the last week, inflicting unprecedented damage upon the largest cattle region in the nation.
Officials surveying the damage said more than 3,600 cattle have died since the fires – some of which are still ongoing – spread through multiple counties and into Oklahoma, destroying hundreds of homes and killing at least two people. The number of dead cattle is expected to double or triple in the coming days as inspectors continue inspecting the land and animals are euthanized because of burn injuries and trauma, Sid Miller, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, told USA TODAY.
“It’s a ghastly sight,” Miller said, recounting hundreds of cows lying dead on smoldering fields. “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
The largest of the blazes, the Smokehouse Creek fire, burned more than 1 million acres of land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, and is the largest wildfire in state history. While authorities have not said what caused the fires, citing early and ongoing investigations, a lawsuit filed in county court last week alleged that a downed utility pole in Stinnett was to blame.
Texas is home to 11 million livestock animals and 85% are in the panhandle, making it the country’s most prominent region for beef production, Miller said. The mass deaths likely won’t impact the price of beef around the nation, but it has already devastated local ranchers, many who’ve maintained businesses that have been in their family for generations, he said.
“They’ve lost their livestock, ranches, all their belongings, all their family heirlooms,” Miller said. “Many of them just have the shirt on their back.”
The Smokehouse Creek fire quadrupled in size in less than 48 hours, catching officials, civilians and farmers off guard and unable to prevent widespread damage. Miller said several large ranchers cut down their own fences so their livestock could escape into surrounding wheat fields; other farmers barely had enough time to get themselves out alive.
Dozens of nearby residents joined the massive recovery effort, donating money, food and equipment to their neighbors. Trailers packed with hay, feed and other supplies have answered the urgent need for vital sustenance as the wildfires consumed the cattle’s primary food source.
“This is ranchers helping ranchers,” said Jason Smith, a beef cattle specialist and associated professor for Texas A&M University. He noted that some farms were untouched or suffered little damage, while others were completely destroyed.
Several nearby ranches have loaned out tractors and other heavy equipment needed to pile up and transport the corpses of cattle before they’re buried or incinerated. Chance Bowers, who operates a ranch in Hansford County, about 80 miles northeast of Amarillo, said such equipment was used to move hundreds of cattle who died either from burns or smoke inhalation.
“We were right in the middle of calving season,” Bowers said. “In a few weeks, we’ll really know what we lost. … This pasture alone, there’s 70 dead.”
Though the fires are still ongoing, local officials said they’ve seen enough damage to know recovery won’t come quickly.
“A lot of these people are going to have to sell,” Miller said. “They have no grass, no infrastructure, no fences, no cattle. They’ll sell and wait for better days. … It’ll take a couple of years to get things back in shape.”
Contributing: The Associated Press; Lubbock Avalanche Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network
“Radical Islamist terrorist groups are anti-American, and the infiltration of these dangerous individuals into Texas must be stopped,” said Texas A-G regarding terrorist org. CAIR.
Air traffic controllers lost communication for about 10 minutes with a small Mexican Navy plane carrying a young medical patient and seven others before it crashed off the Texas coast, killing at least five people, Mexico’s president said Tuesday.
Authorities initially believed the plane had landed safely at its destination in Galveston, near Houston, before learning it had gone down Monday afternoon, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. A search-and-resuce operation in waters near Galveston pulled two survivors from the plane’s wreckage, Mexico’s Navy said, while one remained missing.
Four of the eight people aboard were Navy officers and four were civilians, including a child, Mexico’s Navy said. Two of the passengers were affiliated with a nonprofit that helps transport Mexican children with severe burns to a hospital in Galveston.
“My condolences to the families of the sailors who unfortunately died in this accident and to the people who were traveling on board,” Sheinbaum said in her morning press briefing, without elaborating on a possible cause. “What happened is very tragic.”
U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Luke Baker said at least five aboard had died but did not identify which passengers.
The plane crashed Monday afternoon in a bay near the base of the causeway connecting Galveston Island to the mainland. Emergency responders rushed to the scene near the popular beach destination about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
Sky Decker, a professional yacht captain who lives about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the crash site, said he jumped in his boat to see if he could help. He picked up two police officers who guided him through thick fog to a nearly submerged plane. Decker jumped into the water and found a badly injured woman trapped beneath chairs and other debris.
“I couldn’t believe. She had maybe 3 inches of air gap to breathe in,” he said. “And there was jet fuel in there mixed with the water, fumes real bad. She was really fighting for her life.”
He said he also pulled out a man seated in front of her who had already died. Both were wearing civilian clothes.
It’s not immediately clear if weather was a factor. The area has been experiencing foggy conditions over the past few days, according to Cameron Batiste, a National Weather Service meteorologist. He said that at about 2:30 p.m. Monday a fog came in that had about a half-mile visibility.
Mexico’s Navy said the plane was helping with a medical mission in coordination with the Michou and Mau Foundation. In a social media post, the foundation said: “We express our deepest solidarity with the families in light of these events. We share their grief with respect and compassion, honoring their memory and reaffirming our commitment to providing humane, sensitive, and dignified care to children with burns.”
Teams from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were at the crash site Monday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said, and a spokesperson for the NTSB said the agency was gathering information about the crash. The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office said officials from its dive team, crime scene unit, drone unit and patrol responded the crash.
A small Mexican Navy plane transporting a 1-year-old medical patient along with seven others crashed Monday near Galveston, killing at least two people, officials said.
Emergency officials rescued four people and were searching for two that were inside the aircraft, Mexico’s Navy said in a statement to The Associated Press. Four of the people aboard were Navy officers and four were civilians, according to the Navy. It was not immediately clear which ones were missing and which had been killed.
Two of the people aboard were members from the Michou and Mau Foundation, which is a nonprofit that provides aid to Mexican children who have suffered severe burns.
The crash took place Monday near the base of a causeway near Galveston, along the Texas coast about 50 miles southeast of Houston.
Mexico’s Navy said in a statement that the plane was helping with a medical mission and had an “accident.” It promised to investigate the cause of the crash.
The Navy is helping local authorities with the search and rescue operation, it said in a post on the social media platform X.
Teams from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at the scene of the crash, the Texas Department of Public Safety said on X.
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office said officials from its dive team, crime scene unit, drone unit and patrol were responding to the crash.
“The incident remains under investigation, and additional information will be released as it becomes available,” the sheriff’s office said in a post on Facebook, adding that the public should avoid the area so emergency responders can work safely.
Galveston is an island that is a popular beach destination.
It’s not immediately clear if weather was a factor. However, the area has been experiencing foggy conditions over the past few days, according to Cameron Batiste, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
He said that at about 2:30 p.m. Monday a fog came in that had about a half-mile visibility. The foggy conditions are expected to persist through Tuesday morning.
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