Wildfire Burns 40 Square Miles in Central Nebraska

Firefighters on Wednesday battled a wind-swept wildfire that has burned more than 40-square miles in central Nebraska, destroying one home and sending one man to the hospital with burns.

The fire started Tuesday near the small town of Stapleton, in Logan County, and quickly raced through farmland, trees and yards to the south and west of the central Nebraska town, north of North Platte.

Crews were readying for a long-day battling the fire as temperatures began to rise and winds were expected to pick up later in the day, said Stapleton Fire Chief Frank Kramer.

Officials were readying aircraft to fly over the fire and dump water in an effort to quell the flames, Kramer said.

“We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” he said. “The outlook for today is not looking real cherry for us. The winds are going to bite us today.”

Kramer said Stapleton’s some 300 residents were evacuated from their homes Tuesday night but have since been allowed to return. The blaze destroyed a house in neighboring Lincoln County.

Stapleton resident Janette Jividen, 30, said she fled to the home of relatives on the east side of Stapleton, 230 miles west of Omaha.

“I was little concerned,” said Jividen, a convenience store cashier. “It got a little too close for comfort for me.”

The fire was the talk of the town as customers filtered into the store for their morning coffees, Jividen said.

“A man that came in said the fire went completely around his house, burned everything around it but left a little circle where his house was,” she said.

She said people were still worried that the fire could continue spreading as the winds pick up.

A man from Stapleton was sent to a hospital with burns after he tried to help fight the flames, Kramer said.

Hundreds of firefighters from as many as 60 departments across the state are helping to fight the fire.

Witnesses told KNOP-TV in North Platte that a farm combine started the blaze but officials with the state patrol say the cause is unknown.