Dale Jenkins and other Texas Panhandle ranchers recounted their stories about the Smokehouse Creek fire to state lawmakers who were in Pampa to investigate.
PAMPA — On the second day of the Smokehouse Creek fire, Dale Jenkins was looking out his window. He could see the wispy white smoke passing over the hill on the horizon of his Candadian ranch. A squad of local volunteer firefighters had worked all night to contain the fire. Jenkins, a lifelong rancher in the Texas Panhandle, had witnessed enough wildfires to know this wasn’t over. It was too windy. The ground was too hot. This was just the beginning.
Texas legislative committee to investigate cause of Panhandle wildfires Jenkins was one of several blue jeans and boots-wearing ranchers and landowners who recounted their stories last week to state lawmakers, who were in Pampa, a Panhandle town of 16,000 to investigate the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest in state history.
Facing staggering losses from wildfires, Texas Panhandle ranchers face years of work to rebuild “When we lost cows, we didn’t just lose animals. We lost family,” Jenkins told the committee. As the fire advanced toward his home, Jenkins knew it was too late to wrangle all the escaped cows from the pen. Instead of chasing them down, he hopped into his tractor, equipped with a massive hose connected to a water tank, and greeted the fire.
Editorial — Smokehouse Creek Wildfire, largest in Texas history, is a harbinger for future fires The family was able to save most of its adult cattle. More than 50 bulls and 40 heifers were later sold. But, only six calves were saved. Five of them were severely burned. A woman in Childress, three hours away from Canadian, who had two young cows in their milking phase, took on these orphaned cattle for Jenkin’s family.
PAMPA Texas A&Amp Agrilife Extension M Agrilife Extension Service Texas Department Of Agriculture Dale Jenkins Brenda Candadian Andy Holloway Jenkins Jenkin M Bobo Texans Childress Texas Pampa Smokehouse Creek Texas Panhandle Hemphill County Canadian Editorial -- Smokehouse Creek Wildfire
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