Crews battle record heat as well as fire

Thursday, August 1, 2002

Red Willow Western rural firefighters fought to save adjoining structures as much as 4,000 tons of hay and ensilage burned at a feedlot south of McCook.

Some 720 large square bales of feed were lost in the fire on property owned by Ron Friehe, at a feedlot for cattle owned by Marshell Sis.

Sixteen members of the rural fire department responded, along with water trucks from the Culbertson fire department and Wilcox Well Drilling, along with loaders provided by Friehe, Heartland Cattle and Sidner Farms.

The fire, which may have resulted from spontaneous combustion, was reported at about 3 p.m. and took about six hours to contain.

Smoke from the fire drifted over the city of McCook throughout the night and into today, causing many to close windows that otherwise would admit cool evening air.

Fighting the fire was especially hazardous Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures reaching a record 107 degrees in McCook, breaking the old mark of 104 set in 1964.

Valentine broke a daily high temperature record Wednesday when the mercury topped out at 110 degrees.

That beat the old mark of 106 for the date set in 1955 and matched in 1987. The city's all-time record is 114, set on July 2, 1990, the National Weather Service said.

But McCook and Valentine were not alone.

Chadron's 108 degrees topped previous record of 102 set in 1966. The 107 degrees in North Platte broke a record of 103, also set in 1987.

The temperature reached 106 in Alliance, breaking the record of 102 set in 1955.

Scottsbluff's 105 degrees broke the 1938 record of 103. Sidney's 104 degrees topped the 101 degrees reached in 1987.

Triple-digit temperatures were reported in several other cities, but none of them reached record highs.

Relief is on the way, said National Weather Service forecaster John Purdy.

"There's a strong cold front in the Northern Plains that is moving through the Dakotas," he said.

That cold front was expected to begin sweeping across the state Thursday morning, Purdy said.

The front was expected to reach the eastern part of Nebraska by Thursday night, knocking temperatures down about 25 to 30 degrees from Wednesday's highs.

"It will probably seem like fall," Purdy said.

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