The Smokehouse Creek wildfire torched more than one million acres of Panhandle land one year ago, and now legislators have a package of reforms that hope to prevent that runaway blaze from happening again.
In February 2024, warm temperatures, a dry spell, and high wind conditions combined to make much of the Panhandle a tinderbox. The area is used to fighting off wildfires in that vast expanse of land and cattle. But occasionally, things get out of control.
