Texas' scorched Panhandle

A million acres swept by fire

- A.S, MALLORY MOENCH

THE SMOKEHOUSE CREEK FIRE WAS named for the place it began on Feb. 26, the grasslands lining a tributary to the Canadian River north of Amarillo, Texas. But within days, dry winds had blown it into the second largest wildfire in U.S. historya galloping, aptly named conflagration that by March 6 had burned 1.1 million acres and caused the deaths of two people: an 83-year-old woman found in her burned home, and a 44-year-old woman who died after being found outside her truck that had been overtaken by smoke and flames.