A Texas fire chief whose small town was among the hardest hit last week by historic blazes sweeping across the Panhandle died Tuesday while fighting a house fire, authorities said. The house fire that Fritch Fire Chief Zeb Smith, 40, responded to wasn't caused by a wildfire, but Smith had been battling the wildfires for over a week, said Brandon Strope, spokesperson for the Hutchinson County Office for Emergency Management. Strope said that after Smith, who was first to arrive, entered the home to check on any occupants, he did not exit. Other firefighters found him and EMS began medical treatment, but he died at the hospital, the AP reports. Stope said Smith's cause of death hasn't been clarified and an autopsy has been ordered.
"Him and his team were out every day, most nights, got very little sleep and just selflessly went out and did everything they could to save their community and keep us intact," Strope said. Smith is survived by two sons, ages 9 and 22. Firefighters are still trying to extinguish wildfires that have been burning across rural areas around Amarillo, which officials say have destroyed as many as 500 structures. Those wildfires include the Smokehouse Creek fire, which is the largest wildfire in Texas history. The fire, which has burned almost 1,700 square miles and spilled into neighboring Oklahoma, was about 37% contained as of Tuesday.
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