When Monty Dozier saw the fire impact zone in Texas’ panhandle, the first thing that hit him was its magnitude. For him, the scene was like a moonscape — just bare ground.
“They'll be facing some issues with wind erosion, as we're still going to be in the windy part of the year, and there's no grass left kind of holding that soil in place,” said Dozier, program director of the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension disaster assessment and recovery team.
He also saw the loss of habitats for wildlife and cattle, and homes burned. Fires have raged in Texas, where the Smokehouse Creek wildfire became the largest wildfire in the state’s history after it began on Feb. 26. It crossed into Oklahoma and burned more than 1 million acres. By mid-March, fire crews had nearly contained the blaze.
This year, wildfires have already charred thousands of acres, killed livestock and destroyed structures and homes in the Great Plains. Evacuations were issued in parts of Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. Other sections of states in the Midwest have also experienced higher fire risk.
It’s common for Oklahoma and parts of Texas to see more wildfires as winter turns to spring. But warmer temperatures, dry weather and wind speeds created optimal conditions for wildfires and their activity has increased, said Gary McManus, Oklahoma’s state climatologist.
“I believe the science does say that fires are burning hotter and bigger as we go through time,” McManus said. “And I think that’s a consequence of increasing temperatures.”
McManus said higher temperatures cause dry weather to turn into drought conditions. When there are more drought conditions, such as the region has seen over the past 10-15 years, that results in more wildfires.
“So it all works together,” McManus said. “It's really tied a lot to temperature and the increasing aridity that we see in this region, due to those increasing temperatures. So that definitely goes hand in hand, I believe.”
The amount of dry, dormant or possibly dead vegetation, McManus said, is the overriding factor for wildfires. If that fuel is dry and ready to burn, he said, it’s waiting for the typical wildfire conditions to come along.
As plants begin to green up in Oklahoma, McManus said, wildfire conditions should diminish as they normally do as long as there is not a drought.
In Nebraska, Ben Bohall, a Nebraska Forest Service public information officer, said wildfire season in his state used to be in late June or early July, and Nebraska would have a bad wildfire season about once every five years. But since 2022, he said, fires have begun as early as late February and the season is longer and more intense.
“So that's really pushed our resources here in the state and it's just become the norm,” Bohall said. “Now we're looking at early spring all the way into sometimes early winter. So, we're not really having fire seasons anymore. We're just having fire years.”
Bohall said about 90% of the state’s wildfires are caused by human activity. For instance, Nebraska’s recent 70,000 acre-fire sparked when a mower hit a rock.
“So it's been really important for us to get information out there regarding what causes that (fires),” Bohall said. “Things like prescribed burns that get out of hand, debris burns, dragging tow chains, underinflated tires.”
Back in Texas, Dozier’s office is continuing to work with farmers and ranchers to address their immediate needs, and people are shipping feed and hay to help local producers.
“It's always amazing to see how much resources pour in after a disaster,” Dozier said. “I tell people, it's a disaster. It's bad. But then it's heartwarming to see how people come together to help one another.”
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
