Sadness, disbelief and exhaustion prevailed in the small towns and rural areas of south central Nebraska on Friday after a forest fire claimed the life, injured another person and left many families homeless. Elwood, the volunteer chief of the Nebraska Fire Department, Darren Krul, was killed and Phelps County Emergency Management Director Justin Norris was injured in a collision between their vehicle and a water truck. The driver of the truck was not injured. The fire and smoke in the area had created zero visibility, said Condi Thomas, a spokesman for the Nebraska State Patrol. Krull, 54, of Elwood, was a passenger on a Ford mission led by Norris, 40, of Holdrege. Norris was taken to a Cambridge hospital with life-threatening injuries and has since been taken to a hospital in Carney and then to Omaha. His condition has stabilized, Thomas said. The driver of the water truck, Andries Van Aswegan, 28, from Arapahoe, was not injured in the collision.
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The fire, which the National Meteorological Service estimated burned 30,000 acres, destroyed at least eight homes and evacuated a village of more than 150 people. Crews from more than a dozen volunteer fire departments battled the blaze. Officials were alerted to a moat fire at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, Gosper County Sheriff Craig Ward said. “Then it took off through the hills and the gorges and the fields,” he said. Ward said the flames, which were rekindled by strong winds, caused damage for miles and miles, destroying entire farms in the process. “I have never seen anything like it in 25 years of firefighting and law enforcement,” he said. Elwood and Lexington firefighters battled a large grass fire in central Gosper County on Thursday afternoon. Brian Neben, Lexington Clipper-Herald In Furnas County, south of Gosper County, Edison Village remained under mandatory evacuation order on Friday due to a grass fire. Furnas County Sheriff Doug Brown said many homes and outbuildings were lost in the blaze. On Friday morning, however, he said, “We are winning the battle right now.” Officials will determine later Friday when Edison residents will be able to return, Brown said. Brown and Ward said crews from 27 volunteer fire departments battled the fire. Aaron Mangels, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Hastings office, said winds were blowing more than 60 mph on Thursday. Emergency workers had been warning all day about the extremely dangerous fire conditions. The area where the fire broke out was hit by stronger winds than those that hit eastern Nebraska. Kind photo Conditions will not be so bad on Friday, Mangels said, but the chances of problems will continue over the weekend. “The winds will be less disturbing,” he said, “but they will be incredibly dry today, which makes it easier to ignite.” Instead of gusts above 60 mph, winds are expected to blow between 30 and 35 mph. Earlier Thursday, both US 283 between Elwood and Arapahoe and US 6 between Arapahoe and the Nebraska intersection 46 were closed by fire, the Nebraska Department of Transportation said. The area will be alerted by a red flag at noon on Friday, meaning it is at “extreme risk of fire” due to strong northerly winds and low humidity, the National Meteorological Service said. The warning remains in effect until 9pm on Friday. Almost all of Nebraska is in drought or near drought. According to the National Center for Drought Mitigation, housed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the area where the fire broke out is characterized by severe drought. “They deal with drought all winter,” Mangels said. “It was incredibly dry.” The area affected by the fire is a combination of arable land and pastures and is somewhat rugged. World-Herald staff writer Bennet Goldstein contributed to this report.
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Wildfires Explained: 10 questions answered
Why do firefighters let some fires burn?
Sometimes fires are suited to a beneficial land management goal, such as when burning in a wildlife area or national park. Fires are part of the natural cycle of forests, and “at times this is the right approach,” said Lane, who is in his 35th season as a firefighter, much of which he spent in western Oregon. He joined the Natural Resources Service of Washington in 2019. Also, fires are sometimes burned in areas where it is not safe to place firefighters.
When do firefighters deploy aircraft?
Planes or helicopters are used if a fire burns too brightly to send ground forces or if aircraft are the best way to supply water or retarders, Lane said. “You want to light a fire fast to keep it small,” Lane said. The goal is not to burst into megfires. Cal Fire, the California Fire Department, maintains an average of 95% of fires in 10 acres (4 acres) or less. But Lane said the planes alone are usually not enough to put out a fire. “It needs boots on the ground.” Aircraft can also face many visibility restrictions when trying to drop water on a fire.
How has technology helped?
In terms of early detection, an innovation replaces fire towers staffed by people with cameras in remote areas, many of them in high definition and armed with artificial intelligence to distinguish a cloud of smoke from the morning fog. There are 800 such cameras scattered throughout California, Nevada and Oregon. Fire managers also regularly call on military drones to fly over fires at night, using heat imaging to map their boundaries and hotspots. They can use satellite imagery to chart the course of smoke and ash.
When is the best time to fight fires?
Generally, the heat of a summer day is not the best time to fight fires. “We are quite successful in the morning, late at night or at night,” Lane said.
Is it more difficult to fight fires in timber or meadows?
A firefighter passes by a burning house as the Dixie Fire erupts Saturday in Plumas County, California. The fire destroyed many homes as it tore the Indian Falls community. NOAH BERGER, ASSOCIATED PRESS Dry lightning causes dozens of fires in the landscape, Lane said, and weather is a major factor in their spread. Meadow fires tend to grow faster and are more prone to expansion when strong winds blow, Lane said. Wood fires do not grow as fast, but they are harder to put out. “With grass, a little rain and it goes out,” Lane said.
How to save houses when fires are approaching?
Thousands of homes in Northern California were threatened by the nation’s largest wildfire on Sunday, and officials warned that the risk of new wildfires in the West was high due to unstable weather conditions. The storms that started on Friday did not cause much …
