ProRodeo Sports News - March 15, 2024

PRORODEO COWBOYS

VIDEO

Casper

Photo courtesy Wyatt Casper Billowing smoke and flames are seen near the home of PRCA saddle bronc rider Wyatt Casper in Miami, Texas. Casper and family members acted promptly and were fortunate to minimize the damage to their personal property as a result of the Smokehouse Creek Fire.

make preparations for their stock and home in a minute’s notice. “The wind was blowing about 50 mph consistently. The fire was traveling quite a bit there for a while,” Casper said. “My wife (Lesley) went and picked up our kids (Cooper, 5, Cheyenne 4) from school, while I was hauling all our horses off the property. We had three trailers full, with probably 25 to 30 head of horses. “We took them to Wade Helton’s house, he’s about 20 miles south of us. But luckily, we were able to get them all to safety, out of the smoke and away from the danger. It was pretty nerve-wracking there for a while.” Casper and his family were able to return to their ranch that night once the fires had passed. Casper returned home to minimal damage, his family that lives just down the road from him didn’t fare quite as well. “I live about a mile from my brother-in-law (Travis Chester), and he lost pretty much every acre that he owns to the fire,” Casper said. “On his place, he lost one of the buildings on his property and a couple barns. They actually stayed back and fought the fire when it was coming toward his place and got it to go around their house. Then they came down and fought it when it hit our place.” Casper said he had never seen anything quite like it as it surpassed the East Amarillo Complex fire (907,245 acres) for the

Fortunate

Wyatt Casper escapes major damage in Texas Fires, others not as lucky

BY TANNER BARTH T he largest wildfire in Texas history has left behind a burn scar that will leave farmers and ranchers across the state with a not-so-subtle reminder of its blazing destruction. The Smokehouse Creek Fire began in the early afternoon of Feb. 26, just north of Stinnett, Texas. The once small fire spread rapidly throughout the Panhandle, fueled by strong winds that seemed to last forever. Nearly a month later the fire is still burning in spots, leaving behind over 1 million charred acres in its aftermath. As of March 12, the fire had stretched into six different counties in Texas and eached the western edge of Oklahoma. Roberts County was just one of the many counties that took a direct head-on hit from the wildfire. Four-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo saddle bronc riding

largest in the state’s history. “Two or three years ago we had a fire get within probably four miles of the house. But we’ve never had one come right through our property before like this one,” Casper said. “We got lucky that they plowed up the ditches on the road that we live on, and it stayed on the west side of it. It had a mind of its own. That fire was rank, it was the craziest thing that I’ve ever seen.” Casper was quick to offer his gratitude to the fire departments and first responders who leaped into action across the state. Without their work he said this life-changing event could’ve been even worse. “The fire department sent as many people as they could to help, but there were fires across 90 miles at one point in the state of Texas,” Casper said. “The fire departments were stretched pretty thin. So, they were doing what they could, and they did as good as they could under those circumstances. We are so thankful for their work. It just burned up our grass, so we are just counting our blessings.”

qualifier Wyatt Casper lives in the area and calls the county seat of Miami, Texas, home. Ninety percent of the county’s 924 square miles were burned once the fire reached them on Feb. 27. Casper was one of the lucky ones, but still didn’t escape the loss of land. “It probably got 25 percent of our pasture that we own around there, but we only own around 70 acres or so,” said Casper, 27. “Luckily, for us it went around our house and all our out structures. A lot of people are a lot worse off than we are down here.” There were an estimated 7,500 livestock lost in the fires in Roberts County alone. Miami is 63 miles to the southeast of Stinnett, where the fire originated. It moved quickly off to the east forcing Casper and his family to

ProRodeo Sports News 3/15/2024

ProRodeo Sports News 3/15/2024

ProRodeo.com

ProRodeo.com

34

35