A fast-moving wildfire, the second largest in U.S. history, has burned over 1.1 million acres north of the city of Amarillo, Texas, killing at least two people, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and causing a nuclear power plant to temporarily cease operations. temporarily cease operations.
As of late Friday, firefighters said they had the fire, called the Smokehouse Creek Fire, about 15% contained. However, a weekend weather forecast of hot and windy conditions with low humidity was expected to spread the fire's flames. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties in the Lone Star State. This fire is the most destructive fire in Texas history, officials said.
Texas ranch broker Chad Dugger said it was difficult to determine the impact of the mounting losses.
"This is devastating to the cattle industry," Dugger told CoStar News. "We don't know what the losses are yet, but they are going to be big. It's a lot of expense to replace fence and livestock. You also lose your ability to earn a living with your ranching operation for a period of time until the vegetation grows back and you can restock."
Texas is the nation's biggest cattle producer, with the state's Panhandle being where the majority, or more than 85% of cattle from the state, are raised, according to a report citing an interview from the state's agricultural commissioner. The commissioner said the state has likely lost thousands of cattle.
Dugger, who found out about the fire while attending a continuing education class with fellow ranch brokers and valuation experts, said he's already begun checking in with his ranchers, who say they have lost hundreds of cattle, but it's too soon to know exactly the herd loss from the flames. For surviving cattle, ranchers are securing pastureland as far away as Nebraska. Ranchers unable to secure sites for cattle to graze could offload them on the market, he said.
The Turkey Track Ranch, an 80,000-acre ranch in the Texas Panhandle held by a generational family ownership group and currently on the market, has early assessment estimates that about 80% of its pastures, plains and creek bottom vegetation has been lost to the fire.
"We continue to assess the total damage to other infrastructure and the loss of livestock," the Turkey Track Ranch ownership group said in a statement. The ranch was priced at $180 million.
"The loss of livestock, crops, and wildlife, as well as ranch fencing and other infrastructure throughout our property as well as other ranches and homes across the region is, we believe, unparalleled in our history," the group said.
The West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department said in a social media post the fire is "now both the largest and most destructive fire in Texas history," having overtaken the East Amarillo Complex fire that burned over 900,000 acres in 2026. Texas has deployed fire departments across Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth region to help contain the blaze.
Like other ranches in the Panhandle, the Turkey Track Ranch will recover in time, with the regeneration of the ecosystem on the ranch expected with the help of the ranch's above- and below-ground water sources. But ranchers are rarely made whole after a devastating fire like this one, even if they insure their livestock and property, said Dugger, who is a Lubbock, Texas-based broker partner at ranch brokerage Hall and Hall.
The Turkey Track Ranch is a marquee property that was caught in the wildfire, but smaller ranches are hit just as hard, he said. Like those smaller properties, the ranch's price tag will likely take a hit, he added, but with a fire still raging, it's too early to start guessing.
"This is a devastating loss for anyone living in the Panhandle," he said. "For properties with big prominent creek bottoms with hardwood trees and cottonwoods, will they be the same? Probably, but not in my lifetime."