A Grant fire department grass rig works the outer edges of a CRP fire that occurred southwest of Grant Monday afternoon. While the fire was driven by steady winds, the velocity didn’t compare to last week when area fires were driven by winds with gusts estimated from 45-60 mph.
High winds keep area firemen hopping
Last week, the Nebraska Weather Service’s issued a high wind warning for the region with potential gusts from 60-75 mph. Couple that with drought conditions and firemen get nervous—and for good cause.
High winds did hit the region beginning last Wednesday and continuing through Friday.
While Perkins County escaped any major fires, departments in Grant, Venango and Madrid all responded to mutual aid calls for several big fires that occurred last week.
The first one occurred late Wednesday evening, Jan. 13, when high winds knocked down several rural electric poles about 3 miles northwest of Imperial.
The downed lines sparked a fire driven by winds gusting to 45 mph or more.
The fire burned all the way to north side of Hwy. 6 on the northwest edge of Imperial. Fortunately, winds subsided for a period, allowing firemen to contain it before jumping Hwy. 6.
Grant and Venango departments responded to mutual aid calls from the Imperial department to assist.
In addition, farmers with tractors and discs helped contain the fire that burned through fields of corn stalks.
Thursday afternoon Imperial firemen were called to a fire at Imperial Beef that consumed a large number of hay bales stored at the feed yard.
Both Grant and Madrid responded with tanker trucks at the request of Imperial.
Friday afternoon, Imperial was called to a large range fire a number of miles southwest of Champion. It too was driven by steady winds estimated at 25 mph, along with higher gusts.
Venango was among departments from Lamar, Benkelman, Wauneta and Wray and Holyoke, Colorado offering mutual aid to fight and contain that fire.
On Monday, Grant responded to a fire in CRP grass about five miles southwest of Grant. Madrid was called on to bring additional water to the scene.
According to Grant Fire Chief Rick Dreiling, the fire burned an estimated 10-12 acres. It was started by UTV being used in the area.
Thursday night, a number of departments responded to a fire northwest of Benkelman that burned to the northwest edge of the town before being contained.
That fire was also driven by high winds.
Dreiling said fire conditions remain high due to the lack of moisture received in the area.
He said a good dose of moisture would go a long ways to improving conditions.