As smoke boiled into the sky Sunday afternoon, volunteer firemen from 12 districts responded to a roaring fire driven by a high south wind across open soybean and corn stubble west of Nora. Above, firemen prepare to protect an endangered farmstead. The fire started near the intersection of Road 3800 and Highway 136 (nine miles north and two east of Superior) in a soybean field.
Farmers with their tractors and discs joined area volunteer fire departments Sunday afternoon to fight a rural fire which started along U.S. Highway 136 nine miles north of Superior and approximately two miles east in a soybean stubble field. A high south wind with gusts reported by the National Weather Service as up to 55 miles per hour pushed the fire northward into a corn stubble field within minutes after the fire started.
At approximately 2:45 Sunday afternoon the Nuckolls County 911 dispatch center received a call reporting there was a fire in a Highway 136 ditch. However the caller was unable to give an address. The dispatch center alerted both the Ruskin and Nelson fire departments and began trying to locate the fire. After more than 20 calls were received at the dispatch center, the location was determined to be near the northwest corner of the intersection of the highway and County Road 3800 and which is approximately two miles east of Highway 14.
As the wind had been gusting out of the south to near 50 miles per hour, responding fire fighters realized the seriousness of the call and began requesting mutual aid from other departments and the assistance of farmers who had tractors and discs.
Twelve fire departments, from Nelson, Oak, Ruskin, Superior, Hardy, Guide Rock, Lawrence, Deshler, Hebron, Davenport, Edgar and Red Cloud responded. An extra dispatcher was called into the sheriff's office to help process the radio and telephone traffic related to the fire.
By the time the first fire trucks arrived, the front line of the wind driven fire had moved nearly a mile. The fire was as much as a half-mile wide and continued north 3.5 miles to PQ road.
Residents in the area were warned they might need to evacuate. Smoke from the fire was visible in the Edgar area. No structures were lost but baled hay in the path of the fire was lost. Some cattle driven from the advancing fire were held on the Nuckolls County Fairgrounds.
Though they had to return later to deal with hot spots, by 9 p.m. the fire was controlled and the fire fighters were returning their equipment to their fire halls. The rain which came late Monday night helped to cool the smoldering trees.
Pictures of the fire have been obtained from the Nuckolls County Sheriff's office and the Nelson Volunteer Fire Department.
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