Wind-driven fire

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

A fire truck drives through heat waves generated by burning bales and pasture grass between Oberlin and Cedar Bluffs Monday afternoon. Firefighters from Decatur County in Kansas and Beaver Valley and Red Willow Western in Nebraska fought the fire from about 3 p.m. until late evening, as it spread from a farmstead about six-seven miles northwest of Oberlin to within three miles of the south side of Cedar Bluffs. Terry Urban hoses down the remains of an outbuilding and the charred body of a 1960 Chevy Impala on his farmstead. The farmstead house, unoccupied, also went up in flames; thick, dark smoke was visible as far north as McCook, about 24 miles away. The face of Beaver Valley firefighter Melvin Nicholson wears evidence of the smoke and dust, heat and exhaustion created by the fire in 96-degree temperatures and 20-30-mile-an-hour winds.

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