FORT WORTH, Texas — Several deadly wildfires ripped through the Texas Panhandle leaving more than 10,000 cattle dead and more than 1 million acres of land destroyed, threatening the livelihoods of thousands of working people.
There are 4.1 million beef cattle in Texas, 85% in the Panhandle. It is the most profitable agricultural commodity in the state, raking in $15.5 billion in 2022.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire — the largest of five extensive ones in the state — began Feb. 26, quickly ravaging ranches, farmland and small towns. Burning over 1,700 square miles, five times the size of New York City, the fire was 74% contained by March 7.
Working people have responded with solidarity. Residents of Fritch opened spare bedrooms and donated food and farm supplies to people affected by the Windy Deuce Fire, which burned 140,000 acres in and around the town.
“People in the Panhandle have always pulled together to help each other,” Leonardo Segura, a retired United Steelworkers union member who worked at the Asarco copper refinery in Amarillo, told the Militant. “There are lines and lines of trucks coming in loaded with hay, water, building materials and other donations from all over the state.
“Some people lost everything,” he said. “When the fire started heading to Oklahoma, people started to evacuate. With the wind blowing 60 to 70 miles per hour, when the fire is headed your way all you have time to do is pack and go.”
“Many of the homes that were destroyed by the fires were not insured,” said Tammy Flanagan, also from Amarillo. “Two people were killed in the fires.”
Xcel Energy, which sells power in Texas and seven other states, has admitted its equipment helped start the fire. “Its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire,” the company said, but denies it acted negligently.
Melanie McQuiddy, who lives in Canadian, a town near the Oklahoma border, filed a lawsuit Feb. 26 charging the power monopoly was responsible for the destruction of her home. The Texas A&M Forest Service said March 7 that Xcel power lines helped cause both the Smokehouse Creek and Windy Deuce fires.
Shane Pennington, a cattle farmer near Canadian found 50 cattle dead and others blinded. “It just burned all the hair off them,” he told CNN. “Their feet are coming off. Their hooves, they’re bloody.” He’s had to euthanize animals.
“I’ve seen this country, how it is with grass and sagebrush and cattle roaming out there, and the next day we come down here, it’s a barren desert,” Brandon Meier, a rancher and high school teacher in Canadian, told the media. He said many cattle are also suffering from smoke inhalation. Udder burns have made it impossible for some cows to nurse their calves.
The Swenhaugen family in Canadian lost most of its pig farm. Shane Swenhaugen, his dad and brother survived the inferno by escaping into a greening wheat field where they stayed for hours watching everything around them burn.
The profit drive of the utility bosses and other capitalists is responsible for these devastating fires. The unions need to lead a fight to nationalize the giant energy monopolies and run them under workers control.
Alyson Kennedy is the Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas.