The Smokehouse Creek wildfire in the Texas panhandle now spans an area that would reach from central Washington, D.C., to the outskirts of Wilmington, Delaware, maps show.
The fire has spread across 850,000 acres since it began on Monday, and it's only 3 percent contained, according to the latest update from the Texas A&M Forest Service. Still spreading, it's already the second largest in the state's history and the fourth largest ever in the U.S.
CBS Texas reported, citing officials and family members, that one person had been killed in the blaze, 83-year-old Joyce Blankenship, who lived in the town of Stinnett.
The Smokehouse Creek fire is thought to have started near Stinnett, to the northeast of Lake Meredith in Hutchinson County, and it has since spread eastward. End to end, it is now estimated to span at least a hundred miles—roughly the distance between downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Times Square in New York City.
The rapid spread of the fire—which spanned 40,000 acres on Monday—has prompted the evacuation of residential areas in its path, including the town of Canadian, near the Oklahoma border. Despite attempts by firefighters to protect structures, as of Tuesday it was already burning buildings on the outskirts of the town.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared it a disaster to activate statewide firefighting and emergency management resources.
As well as gutting buildings, the fire has encroached on escape roads and burned through local infrastructure. On Wednesday, the North Plains Electric Cooperative said the wildfire had destroyed around 115 miles of power lines. According to its latest tally, nearly a thousand homes in the region are without power.
The Smokehouse Creek fire is one of several blazes to have broken out in the region in the past few days, spurred on by warm temperatures and strong winds. The active panhandle blazes currently cover a combined area of 1,026,500 acres, according to the latest figures by the Texas A&M Forest Service.
When its approximate area is overlaid onto other locales, the fire would cover most of Long Island in New York and span across much of Los Angeles in California.
From one end to another, it would reach from the center of Chicago into Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or from central Detroit to Lansing in Michigan.
The fire would also consume the bay area of San Francisco, and would reach across neighboring Redwood City, Palo Alto and San Jose along the California coastline.
It covers an area that, if transposed to Colorado, would consume much of Denver while also being able to reach the outskirts of Colorado Springs.
Newsweek approached Hutchinson County Emergency Management via email for comment on Thursday.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Aleks Phillips is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. ... Read more
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