Texas Wildfires - 2024

Assessment Period: February 26 - March 10, 2024

Publication Date: March 19, 2024

USDA NASS

Disaster Monitoring Team
• Location: Texas, U.S.

• Event: Texas Wildfires 

– Feb 26: Emergency alerts issued for wildfires with potential to expand (Texas A&M Forest Service).

– Multiple wildfires; Smokehouse Creek wildfire among them, being the largest in Texas history with over 1M acres 

of land burned (Texas A&M Forest Service).

– Damage reported in affected areas includes hundreds of burned homes, thousands of livestock dead, and 

destruction of crops, grasslands, and ranching infrastructure (Texas Tribune, Washington Post, CBS News).

• Current situation as of March 13, 2024: 

– Active Wildfires:

• Smokehouse Creek Fire, Hutchinson County - est. 1,058,482 acres, 89% contained

• Windy Deuce Fire, Moore County - 144,045 acres, 94% contained

– Contained Wildfires (100%):

• Coahoma Tracks, Howard County - 76 acres

• Rusk 0671 Fire, Rusk County - 9.2 acres

• Upshur 0672 Fire, Upshur County - 2 acres

• Jasper 0664 Fire, Jasper County - 1.7 acres

• Polk 0665 Fire, Polk County - 1.9 acres

Event Summary

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The Texas Fire Danger (TFD) map is produced by the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS). Weather information is provided by remote, 

automated weather stations and then used as an input to the Weather Information Management System (WIMS). The NFDRS processor in

WIMS produces a fire danger rating based on fuels, weather, and topography. TWC | Texas Fire Danger (TFD) (tamu.edu)

Forecasted Fire Danger: Texas (February 25 - 26, 2024)

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Texas Wildfire Perimeters (Current as of March 7, 2024)

Wildfire Perimeters Data Source: WFIGS Current Interagency Fire Perimeters shapefile downloaded from National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) on March 7, 2024. Texas Oklahoma

Smokehouse Creek 

Incident

Grapevine Creek Incident

Windy Deuce

Incident

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Roberts County, TX: A drone view of the grasslands burning from the Smokehouse 

Creek Fire in Roberts County, Texas, U.S., February 28. REUTERS/Nathan Frandino

Smokehouse Creek Wildfire Destruction

Skellytown, TX: Ranchers move the remains of cattle killed by the Smokehouse Creek Fire out of 

burned ranch land, Friday, March 1, 2024. AP Photo/Julio Cortez

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Sentinel-2 median composite image (R: NIR, G: Red, B: Green) (Feb 26 – Mar 10) Sentinel-2 Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) for Feb 26 – Mar 10, 2024

Sentinel-2 Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) for Jan 1 – Feb 25, 2024

Before

Before

Sentinel-2 median composite image (R: NIR, G: Red, B: Green) (Jan 1 – Feb 25)

After

Visualization of wildfires from Sentinel-2 imagery and Normalized Burned Ratio (NBR)

After

Fire perimeter
Winter Wheat

Cotton

Millet

Sorghum

Winter Wheat

Triticale

Smokehouse Creek

Grape Vine Creek

Windy Deuce

Crop impact assessment based on wildfire perimeters acquired on March 7, 2024 and NASS CDL 2023

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Texas impacted crops during the February - March 2024 wildfires 

* From 2022 Ag Census

** From 2023 Survey

Fire perimeter

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Smokehouse Creek Fire: Select Areas Depicting Crop Field Damage

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Smokehouse Creek Fire, Roberts County, TX: Damage to Crop Field

WorldView-2 © 2023 Maxar

Pre-Event Image: Jan 22, 2023

WorldView-2 © 2024 Maxar

Post-Event Image: Feb 28, 2024

Probable 

Scorched 

Crop Areas

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Probable 

Scorched 

Crop Areas

WorldView-2 © 2023 Maxar

Pre-Event Image: Jan 22, 2023 Post-Event Image: Mar 2, 2024

WorldView-3 VNIR © 2024 Maxar

Smokehouse Creek Fire, Roberts County, TX: Damage to Crop Fields

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WorldView-2 © 2024 Maxar

Pre-Event Image: Feb 19, 2024

WorldView-2 © 2024 Maxar

Post-Event Image: Feb 28, 2024

Probable 

Scorched 

Crop Area

Smokehouse Creek Fire, Roberts County, TX: Damage to Crop Field

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WorldView-2 © 2024 Maxar

Pre-Event Image: Feb 19, 2024

WorldView-3 VNIR © 2024 Maxar

Post-Event Image: Mar 2, 2024

Probable 

Scorched 

Crop Areas

Smokehouse Creek Fire, Roberts County, TX: Damage to Crop Field

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GeoEye-1 © 2023 Maxar

Pre-Event Image: Jan 17, 2023 Post-Event Image: Feb 28, 2024

WorldView-2 © 2024 Maxar

Probable 

Scorched 

Crop Area

Smokehouse Creek Fire, Hemphill County, TX: Damage to Crop Field

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WorldView-2 © 2023 Maxar

Pre-Event: Nov 8, 2023 Post-Event Image: Mar 2, 2024

WorldView-3 VNIR © 2024 Maxar

Probable 

Scorched 

Crop Area

Smokehouse Creek Fire, Hemphill County, TX: Damage to Crop Field

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