Story courtesy KBRB Radio, Ainsworth
A Tuesday evening fire south of Highway 20 near the Brown County and Rock County line was pushed by strong winds and dry conditions, prompting the response of 14 area volunteer fire departments.
According to Ainsworth Fire Chief Brad Fiala, the fire started at approximately 8:15 p.m. Tuesday and was caused by strong winds sparking power lines. Fiala said the fire began south of the old drive-in movie theater and spread southeast across several cornfields.
“I have never seen fire move across cornfields like that,” Fiala said. “The flames were pretty high.”
Fiala said the fire burned into four or five tree groves and about the same number of bale piles as it spread southeast toward RK Feeders.
Fire departments from Valentine east to O’Neill provided mutual aid to firefighters from Brown and Rock counties. Fiala said firefighters were able to stop the leading edge of the fire by about 11 p.m.
The fire chief said firefighters will spend Wednesday mopping up hot spots, cutting down trees and breaking up bale piles that were impacted by the fire. He said firefighters worked Tuesday night to protect one home in the potential path of the fire approximately 1 mile west of RK Feeders.
An estimate of the number of acres burned had not yet been completed with the fire occurring during the night. No structures were reported damaged Tuesday.
