Green grass grows around plants and trees scorched by Smokehouse Creek wildfire on April 3 near Canadian. The lands recover faster than the people, said Janet Guthrie, a Canadian resident who raises cattle in Hemphill County.— a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state.
The preventive measures are in lieu of action by state government. Official measures are still in the works between lawmakers, state offices, and the companies that put their equipment in vulnerable, isolated areas of Texas. By the end of the day, their pasture and part of their yard burned, except for a corner that was hit by the sprinklers. One of the horses they couldn’t rein in chose that spot as sanctuary from the flames.
The water supplier has high-capacity water wells in a 50-square mile well field in Roberts County, nearly 80 miles northeast of Amarillo. Approximately 500,000 acres burned in the county. Satterwhite said the authority has 795 power poles in the field, and they routinely cut weeds around the poles and check them.
Some people have repaired their wells. Others are waiting. After all, they have no livestock to give the water to.