Lightning blamed for wind-whipped fire

Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Fire trucks from Trenton, Stratton, Culbertson, Palisade, Hayes Center and Red Willow Western light up a rural road south of Trenton on Christmas Day, as firefighters battled a pasture fire in 60-70-mile-an-hour wind and gusts Sunday afternoon and evening. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

TRENTON, Neb. -- Sixty to 70-mile-an hour winds and a lightning crack that ignited a hillside and yucca plants created "pure hell" in the hills south of Trenton on Christmas afternoon.

Trenton fire chief Tom Hovey said this morning that fighting any grassland fire after getting a heavy rain is difficult because it decreases traction for fire trucks. But a blaze then spread by wicked screaming winds made for what he called "pure hell" for firefighters.

"We had more than an inch of rain that morning," Hovey said. "So it was slick on top, and it was hard getting around, especially on the terraces. The fire was moving so fast in the wind we couldn't see where it was. I kept telling the guys not to get in front of it -- you'd really be in trouble then."

A carport owned by Chris Lewis of McCook was among the damage in the Christmas Day windstorm that swept through Southwest Nebraska and points east. Gusts up to 70 mph and higher blew down trees and power lines and caused other damage throughout the region. (Bruce Crosby/McCook Gazette)

Hovey said he's "99.9 percent certain" the fire started with lightning that accompanied the unusual Christmas Day thunderstorm. "Where it started, there are no power lines. And the hill side is covered with evergreens and yucca plants," Hovey said. "After getting hit by lighting, yucca plants sit and smolder," he said, and then the ugly winds broadcast sparks through pastureland, wheat stubble, cornstalks and tall-grass CRP stands.

"It came close to one house, and it's surrounded by evergreens. That could have been bad," Hovey said. "But we got it stopped before it got there."

Trenton's ambulance transported on firefighter who suffered a shoulder injury, Hovey said, and then Culbertson's ambulance arrived on the scene to provide assistance if needed.

A herd of cattle scattered when firefighters went through an electric fence, but, Hovey said, they've all been accounted for.

Hovey said the fire burned close to 1,000 acres, with its spread at the widest points about 1.3 miles north to south and east to west as well.

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