According to Twitter posts by the Texas A&M Forest Service, as of 8 a.m. Wednesday the Smokehouse Creek Fire is showing an estimated 500,000 acres scorched, the second-largest wildfire in Texas history, with 0 percent containment. Fire behavior had moderated with decreased winds, but it was still actively burning.
Only the 2006 East Amarillo Complex, which burned more than 1,400 square miles and also started in Hutchinson County, was larger. Wildfire records started being kept in 1988.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire has burned more than 780 square miles – an area about half the size of the state of Rhode Island – according to the Texas A&M Forest Service, since being reported late Monday afternoon.
