Ever since Friday, July 20th North Central Nebraska has been in a blaze. As the clouds rolled in that night we all were thinking...FINALLY RAIN! But as I was sitting in the garage watching the sprinkles of rain come down and the clouds continuing to roll over I saw a low lying brown cloud and thought, "hmmm...that is a weird cloud." It wasn't more than 2 minutes later I heard the fire sirens blaring from town. I got up and walked to the edge of the house and then I could see the smoke and flames of a fire. The numerous fires started in Cherry/Brown/Keya Paha counties were due to lightning strikes. I had just talked to my father on the phone and was telling him how nice it felt and smelt to have some rain. It wasn't a couple seconds later that I texted him and said, "remember how I said it was raining? Well I am now enjoying the sprinkles while watching a fire = TOO DARN DRY!!!"
Remember how I said that this summer has been filled with new experiences? Well this is another one to be added to the list. I can remember some dry summers but nothing compared to this. I seriously do not remember the last time we had a substantial rain at my summer home, its maybe 10 one hundreths here and there but add that too days over 100* doesn't get you too far. Oh and to talk about the temperatures, I think we've had maybe two days in the month of July where it's been under 90*....oh wait now three since today is only 87*!!!! Great to have some relief.
This past week has been an eye opening experience for not only me but for sooo many people. When disaster hits, like the Fairfield Creek Fire, it's amazing how a town, surrounding communities, and a state can come together. As I drive to and from work I meet numerous fire trucks from around the state and even surrounding states. And on Facebook, seeing all of the pictures, the donation list on North Central Development Center as well as a PayPal link to help fire victims is just unbelieveable. I have never been in a situation with a wildfire like this that has burned tens of thousands of acres along the Niobrara River, cattle ranches, and hay fields. Thankfully NOBODY has died and there have been only a few injuries. I am still wondering on livestock numbers but the efforts of sooo many volunteers have been able to evacute not only homes but pastures of cattle to move everyone out of harms way. |
| Photo courtesy of Laurie Olsen |
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| Smoke as it rises creates thunderheads that generate dry lightning; another factor that they firefighters have to go up against. |
It is eerie to look north and see billowing clouds of smoke, an orange glow at night, and this morning we were able to smell the smoke since the wind direction had switched over night. That is the scary thing about these fires; with a switch of the wind a new game has been created. They had some of the fires in southeast Keya Paha county contained to the canyons the other day but then the wind switched and BAM! it was back out of the canyon. It is hard for me to phathom too that I was just on the Niobrara River two weekends ago on a tube trip with college friends where now the river is closed to all recreational activities from Valentine on east. I was just on that area of the river which will never look the same so I guess I can also say that I was blessed to see the "scenic Niobrara River" before devastation hit.
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| College Friends and I on the Niobrara 2 weeks ago |
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| The fire as it reaches the Niobrara River |
It has been a little chaotic in the office this week with the fire and county fair fast approaching. We have cancelled some workshops and drought meetings due to the fire and last night we had the small animal show in Ainsworth in which we questioned canceling due to a heat index of 110* while we also had our dog show judge call in a tell us he would be unable to judge as they were preparing to evacute due to the Hall Ranch fire. Our 4-H Horse show was supposed to be tomorrow at the Keya Paha County Fairgrounds in Norden but that has been rescheduled due to fire damage to the grounds. But through it all the area continues to work to defeat this fire and keep everyone fed, cool, and keep a smile on each others faces.
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| Monday's Food Workshop's curriculum was changed to make cookies and trail mix for the volunteers at the Ainsworth Fire Hall. Here some fo the 4-Hers are offering the snacks to some of the helpers. They felt good after doing this, something several of them have never done before. |
I volunteered at the
Ainsworth School with the American Red Cross this morning. We made 305 meals for the firefighters and volunteers. The cafeteria room is FILLED with donations from across the nation.
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| Signs like these are on almost every store in town! |
We all need your help in continuing to pray for the safety of our firefighters and please pray for rain. We had a short shower this morning and still and chance this afternoon. We ask that the good Lord will just let it open up and give these men and women some relief. As my dad always said, "the good Lord will bless us just when we think it's 10 minutes too late."
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| A picture says a thousand words Photo courtesy of Becky Sawyer |
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| Near Norden, NE Photo courtesy of Laurie Olsen |
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| Hwy 12 Photo courtesy of Nebraska Central News |
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| Bammerlin Home Photo courtesy of Emily Estes |
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| The beautiful sandhills now scorched Photo courtesy of Omaha World Herald |
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE FIREFIGHTERS AND VOLUNTEERS HELPING WITH THE FIRES IN NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA!
Calling all of my farming and ranching families, if interested in helping the local farmers and ranchers who have lost their homes, acres upon acres of pasture, fence lines burned up, etc. checks can be made out to NCDC but sent to the BKR Extension office for a fund to buy hay, feed, fence posts and wire, etc for the farm and ranch families.
UNL Extension
148 W. 4th Street
Ainsworth, NE 69210
Phone: 1-800-634-8951 or 402-387-2213
