The Texas Panhandle had numerous power outages due to high winds that consumed the Texas Panhandle and West Texas. Xcel Energy reported 238 outages affecting 20,511 people as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
Restoration work was expected to begin around 5 p.m. once weather conditions fell below Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) thresholds.
Xcel implemented a PSPS that impacted about 15,000 in 14 counties, with high winds with gusts up to 70 mph leading to additional power outages for customers. Outages from a significant weather even or PSPS can take several hours to several days since crews must inspect power lines and repair damage before being safely re-energized.
Additionally ,the National Weather Service issued widespread, long duration wildfire risk and Red Flag Warnings associated with this dangerous weather system, which were expected to continue throughout the week.
High winds that may create wildfire risk and cause outages were expected to continue through Thursday. Already one fire was reported in the Dumas-Dalhart area. As of Tuesday, it was 20% contained.
Xcel uses Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) and, when conditions require it, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) to reduce the chance that electric equipment could spark a wildfire during periods of elevated or extreme risk. As severe weather, strong winds and dry conditions become more frequent, a combination of real- time weather data, wildfire modeling tools and on-the-ground observations are used to understand when the system may be exposed to higher fire danger.
State officials have prepositioned pilots, aircraft and nearly 150 emergency personnel across the Texas Panhandle as an extremely critical fire threat looms over the region.
The warning was issued due to a dangerous combination of high wind gusts, rising temperatures and low humidity, conditions that create an elevated risk for rapid wildfire outbreaks. Resources were being staged in Panhandle communities, including Borger, Dalhart, Canadian and Pampa, with crews bringing in additional equipment, such as bulldozers, fire trucks, and modified vehicles, to help establish containment lines. Juan Rodriguez with the Texas A& M Forest Service said staging personnel and equipment in advance is key to improving response times, adding that reinforcements during this time of year are not unusual. “We’ll be able to cut our response time really in half in a lot of our areas,” Rodriguez said. “Being in Pampa, Borger, Dalhart — if we have a start in any of those northern counties, we’ll have some resources that are able to get on that real quick.”
Over the last two decades, the Panhandle has experienced some of the largest wildfires in state history, including the Smokehouse Creek Fire in 2024.