(reports from app.watchduty.org)
***UPDATE AT 2:30 CT***
Sekhar Padmanabhan
Staff Reporter
Garden County has now been included in this incident due to recent satellite heat signatures from NOAA’s Wildland Fire Data Portal showing the fire is now in or is in close proximity to the county line. Users in that county will now receive notifications for this incident.
Two new fires started overnight Wednesday in Grant County northeast of the Morrill Fire. The Ashby Fire, which started near the community of Ashby and is approximately 60,000 acres, quickly spread southward and has burned into the area already burned by
the Morrill Fire northeast of the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The Minor Fire, south of the community of Hyannis and approximately 15,000 acres, is moving southward toward Arthur County and the Morrill Fire.
Around 1 a.m. MDT Thursday, the incident mobilized initial-attack resources. They are actively engaged, assisting local volunteer fire departments and Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Wildland Incident Response and Assistance Team. At Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen’s request, Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team (CIMT) 1 is assisting with both the Ashby and Minor Fires.
Very strong winds from the north all day Thursday will likely challenge firefighters despite cooler, moister conditions. To assist with the suppression of the Ashby and Minor Fires, Rocky Mountain CIMT 1 has ordered numerous engines and other resources; additional aerial resources will also be arriving Thursday to assist the suppression effort. Four Nebraska and Iowa National Guard Black Hawk helicopters are working the Ashby Fire, and three single-engine air tankers are working the Minor Fire.
The incident has additional initial-attack groups staged and ready to immediately respond to requests from local or state officials to assist with the initial suppression of any other new fires that may start Thursday. The State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) at the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has been and remains fully operational to coordinate with Rocky Mountain CIMT 1.
***UPDATE AT NOON CT***
To assist with the suppression of the Ashby and Minor Fires, Rocky Mountain CIMT 1 has ordered numerous engines and other resources; additional aerial resources will also be arriving Thursday to assist the suppression effort. Four Nebraska and Iowa National Guard Black Hawk helicopters are working the Ashby Fire, and three single-engine air tankers are working the Minor Fire. The incident has additional initial-attack groups staged and ready to immediately respond to requests from local or state officials to assist with the initial suppression of any other new fires that may start Thursday.
Due to a fast-moving wildfire, residents of Ashby and Hyannis in Grant County have been ordered to evacuate to Hyannis Schools Thursday morning.
The evacuations were ordered by the Grant Co Sheriff between 3:00 and 4:10 Thursday morning. A stretch of Highway 2 in Grant Co was closed early this morning, but has since been reopened.
The fire has been mapped at 58,935 acres per the perimeter uploaded by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), which can be seen on the Watch Duty map under the Active Perimeter map layer.
(Huskeradio will publish more updates as they become available)
