U.S. Wildfires

Disaster Response. Step One. Get There.

Situation Overview

On February 26, 2024, Texas witnessed the ignition of its largest wildfire in history, rapidly spreading across the region fueled by dry and windy conditions. The 2024 Texas wildfires, comprising several major blazes including the Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle and parts of Oklahoma, prompted a disaster declaration for 60 counties. Within 48 hours, over 500,000 acres were engulfed by flames, a number that has since ballooned to over 1,058,000 acres by March 7—surpassing the area of Rhode Island. Airlink swiftly mobilized to facilitate travel for nonprofit partners, ensuring their safe deployment as soon as ground responses were viable.

The Texas Panhandle, boasting the largest concentration of cattle in the U.S., endured severe devastation, with thousands of cows perishing, crops charred, and hundreds of homes razed in local communities. Tragically, the fires also claimed the lives of at least two individuals. With the situation stabilizing, Airlink continues to facilitate travel for skilled personnel, leveraging partnerships with airlines to support the ongoing response efforts.

Sector focus: WASH, Shelter, Connectivity, Food

#Airlinked Partners in Action

Inspiritus

Inspiritus will be providing rescue and recovery to at least 150 people who are suffering from the Wildfires in Texas, managing untrained volunteers and donations to the area as well as having their Team Leaders working in the field.

GlobalMedic

GlobalMedic is deploying firefighting skids that can be used to increase the resources available to fight wildfires. Skids are specialty-made units that have 1,000L water tanks, pumps, and hoses that can be placed onto the back of any pickup truck and turned into firefighting vehicles. They will also be deploying three team members to assist with the installation of the equipment. This equipment is made available to smaller municipalities and fire departments that need to bolster their existing capacity.

Our Response

Airlink and its partners launched a coordinated response effort to a large wildfire burning in Northern California. In partnership with United Airlines, Airlink sent 10 Operation BBQ Relief volunteers.

The largest of many fires burning in the Western US state has displaced thousands of residents. Operation BBQ Relief is working to provide more than 20,000 hot meals to those residents over the course of two weeks. Teams are distributing the meals at five area shelters.

On the first of August, the Weather Channel reported “the so-called Carr Fire, burning on the west side of Redding, some 150 miles north of Sacramento, has claimed the lives of six people and destroyed more than 1,450 structures, 1,000 of which were homes. More than 35,000 residents were displaced as 180 square miles burned – an area larger than the city of San Jose, California.”