Nine fire departments responded to a wildfire Sept. 30 that caused residents to evacuate and Interstate 80 to close north of Pleasant Dale.
The fire began along Highway 6 between 196th and 210th roads when a wheel hub on a camper trailer locked up, became hot, fell off and rolled into a ditch, lighting the grass on fire.
Pleasant Dale volunteer firefighters were called to the scene at 2:46 p.m.
Fire Chief Nick Dankers said a 30 mph wind from the south quickly spurred the flames into a nearby field.
“It pushed the fire into an unpicked cornfield, then it got into a wooded pasture area,” Dankers said.
An ember caught in the wind then drifted across the interstate and ignited brush on the north side.
“It had time to get large before anybody knew there was fire over there and it got into another pasture and another cornfield,” he said.
Firefighters and local farmers were able to contain the blaze before it got to Holdrege Road.
“Local farmers had some disks they brought out and disked up perimeters around the field to help contain it,” Dankers said.
Meanwhile, those in the vehicle pulling the camper stopped and unhooked the trailer. The hot hub ignited the rest of the camper.
No one was hurt in either fire, but firefighters and law enforcement evacuated residents along Holdrege Road for safety.
Milford Fire Chief Jeremy Dinges said the departments worked together to knock the flames down from a line of cedar trees and stop the fire before it got to homes.
The Nebraska State Patrol and Seward County Sheriff’s Department temporarily shut down the interstate as the fire burned on both sides.
“The interstate got closed down for awhile because of low visibility from the smoke,” Dankers said. “We had firefighters along the roadside spraying flames.”
Dinges said the fire burned a swath about one mile wide and two miles long.
Dry conditions, high temperatures in the mid-90s and low humidity, along with high winds, caused the fire to spread rapidly.
Pleasant Dale called for mutual aid from Milford, Seward, Garland, Utica, Malcolm, Raymond, Valparaiso and Southwest Fire and Rescue in Lincoln.
Additional village departments were on standby to cover the rest of the county if other fire or rescue calls came about.
Departments were on scene until about 8:30 p.m., and Pleasant Dale firefighters continued to monitor the area through the night and into the morning.
“While we were out there, we had a pretty heavy rekindle,” Dankers said, “but we were able to get it out.”
