Fire loses becoming more clear

Nick Elledge, Nuckolls County emergency services manager, has provided an update on the damage caused by last Sunday's massive wildfire. The blaze burned a swathe of Nuckolls County land two miles wide and more than 12 miles in length.

There were no injuries or livestock losses reported. One house was destroyed. Six agricultural out buildings fell victim to the fire.

South Central Public Power District reported 30 distribution poles, with a replacement cost of $1,000 each for material and labor, needed to be replaced. Two transmission buildings, valued at $30,000 each, were also destroyed.

More than 40 miles of fencing was destroyed as a result of the blaze. No official cause of the initial fire has been determined.

Elledge reported that a request for state disaster aide has been submitted. The minimum damage threshhold is $500,000. The damages incurred by the county and power district do not approach this amount.

Elledge noted that two big factors in containing the fire was the volunteer action of farmers disking fire breaks and the implementation of the mutual aid pacts between area fire departments. There were 20 fire departments involved in battling the blaze.

Motorists traveling through the fire zone this week are surprised by what they see.

Little of the area was blackened by the fire. Instead, the blowing dust has turned the area gray. Fields and pastures are bare with little hint of the vegetation that was once there. It appears the grass is trying to grow, if only there was some rain and more warm days, the pastures would turn green.

A week later flames could still be seen as hot spots continue to smolder.

What some people would describe as a new metal gate turned into a twisted mess when the post it was attached to burned off and the gate fell to the ground. Warmed by the fire it appeared to twist and conform to the ditch it fell into.

Long, snake like rows of smouldering hay speak of what was planned as winter feed for a farmer's cattle. The cattle may have escaped the fire but their feed did not.

The fire did not burn in straight lines. It seems to have hopped and skipped around. There are unburned patches in the pastures mixed in with the burned areas.

Drifts of blowing dirt remind many of the pictures taken after the 1930s dust storms.

And like tornadoes there are strange stories coming out of the fire. For example, Marlan Meyer had a weed overgrown lot south of his farm buildings. It looks like the fire was headed straight for his place but was stopped by the weeds. To the east of the lot, the fire kept racing north.

Irene Andersen also had lots around her barn that only a few days earlier had been overgrown with the same kind of weeds. She had brought in goats and cleaned up the lots and Sunday afternoon the fire raced in and took the barn.

Irene wasn't home when the fire raced through. Before the fire, a 30-year-old horse was using the barn for shelter. She feared the horse had been injured by the fire if not burned to death.

She feared the horse was someplace suffering. After the fire was contained, volunteers were helping her look for the horse. One thought he caught sight of the animal and stopped to look. The horse was happy to be found and came running to greet the man.

Somehow the animal had found a way to safety and was not injured.

This week he looks rather lonely standing in the a lot the barn had served.

Dust clouds mark the fields where farmers are working their ground and planting rye with the hope gentle rain this week will sprout the seed and the warm temperatures will hold on long enough for the rye to grow and cover the exposed soil. If not, soil erosion is a potential problem in the coming months.