Wildfire forum held as 1 yr. anniversary of Smokehouse Creek Fire approaches

HEMPHILL COUNTY, Texas (KVII) — The Hemphill County Extension Office in Canadian hosted a Wildfire Preparedness meeting on Thursday.

As the one-year anniversary of the Smokehouse Creek Fire approaches, moving forward there is still an ongoing battle for livestock producers and Ag Producers to receive compensation.

“I came to this meeting to see what people are proposing on collecting from Xcel Energy on the fire,” said Stephen Smith, Ag Producer.

“I heard that the homes that were lost, I think there was 57, I heard they were compensated or paid for that, and rightfully so, I’m glad for that,” said Craig Young, rancher.

“Right now, that’s still in litigation on the ranching I haven’t heard from a lot of them that have been paid yet" said Young.

“You know XCEL Energy I have to say they were first to raise their hand in the beginning to say they were the cause of the fire,” said Justin Coleman, rancher.

Coleman continued, “we’ve worked with them through the days to try and gather funds from them."

“We’ve learned a lot from them on the fires, but this one was so widespread and so fast and so devastating,” said Kathy Price, rancher.

“Well, were responsible for this so if you have any damage go through our claims process and send us a bill. We're part of the community, and we're your neighbors, and all this stuff, but that hasn’t been my experience with them, I’ll tell you straight up,” said Smith.

As the unofficial start to the 2025 wildland fire season is about to get underway a number of Ag Producers and livestock producers have invested thousands of dollars to increase their defensive mechanisms around their house and around their land to ensure they don’t have to go through what they experienced with the Smokehouse Creek Fire in 2024.

Bram Browder, the director of the Institute for Legal Analysis Center to protect ranchers addressed the audience and went over how ranchers can get claims paid from the Smoke House Creek fire.

Other speakers addressed the audience to go over how to further strengthen their property and home from a wildland fire.

Safeguarding against a wildfire is a year-round endeavor and requires a big investment to build up defensible space to protect your house and property.