Joyce Blankenship: Grandmother, 83, dies after being 'enveloped' by the largest wildfire in Texas history

AMARILLO, TEXAS: A 83-year-old grandmother has died due to the Smokehouse Creek Fire which is now the largest wildfire in Texas history. According to ABC-affiliate KVII-TV and CBS News Texas, Joyce Blankenship died when the Smokehouse Creek Fire "enveloped" her neighborhood in the small town of Stinnett, about 70 miles northeast of Amarillo. 

The grandmother and former substitute teacher lived in an area where the fire started on Monday afternoon, February 25, as per KVII. She is the first and only confirmed fatality so far.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire has become the largest in the state, fueled by strong winds, dry conditions and record-setting high temperatures, burning nearly 1.1 million acres in three days, CNN and CBS News reported.

The current wildfire has eclipsed 2006's East Amarillo Complex Fire

According to the outlets, the current wildfire has eclipsed 2006's East Amarillo Complex Fire, which burned 907,245 acres. In an update provided at 9 am local time on Thursday, February 29, the Texas A&M Forest Service said the Smokehouse Creek Fire in Hutchinson County is only three percent contained.

Numerous other fires are also raging in the Panhandle, the Amarillo Globe-News reported. The other fires include the Windy Deuce Fire which has consumed 142,000 acres and is 30% contained; the Grapevine Creek Fire, which is 30,000 acres and 60% contained; and the Magenta Fire, which is only 2,500 acres and currently 65% contained.

According to reports, authorities have not given a cause for what may have started the wildfires. On Wednesday, February 28, three Single Engine Airtankers (SEAT) began fighting the flames from the air, while two more SEATs and a helicopter are set to arrive in Moore County Airport in Dumas on Friday, KVII reported.

What did the Emergency Management Coordinator say?

Hemphill County Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Kendall described the charred area as a “like a moonscape,” with “hundreds of cattle just dead, laying in the fields,” according to USA Today. Meanwhile, Tresea Rankin, a resident of the town of Canadian, where the fires have raged, reflected on what she had lost.

“Thirty-eight years of memories, that’s what you were thinking,” Rankin told the outlet, adding “Two of my kids were married there ... But you know, it’s OK, the memories won’t go away.”

In Hemphill County alone, 400,000 acres are burned, scores of homes have been destroyed and thousands of cattle have died, Hemphill County AgriLife Extension agent Andy Holloway said. More than 85% of cattle in Texas are raised in the Panhandle, according to agricultural officials.