Baler Fires Keep Area Departments Busy

The fire threat in the county continues to increase with temperatures pushing into the triple digits again this week. People are advised to exercise caution when operating farm equipment in high risk areas. The area departments have answered numerous calls due to hay balers in the last couple of weeks.

The Atkinson Fire Department was called to the Pokorny ranch south of Atkinson last Wednesday and requested mutual aid from O'Neill, Stuart, Chambers, and even units from Burwell. Thursday Atkinson again requested mutual aid from O'Neill and Stuart in a mop up of the previous day's fire at the Pokorny ranch. Thursday evening the department responded to a motorcycle wreck west of town about 9:00 p.m. One person was transported from the scene to the hospital.

On Friday afternoon the O'Neill department was called to a hay bale fire southwest of O'Neill. One bale was lost but the fire was contained to a very small area. On Sunday another baler caught fire near the old Midway station north of O'Neill. O'Neill was dispatched to the fire and upon arrival requested assistance from Spencer, Atkinson, Lynch and Butte. Ag Services of Emmet also helped in providing water to the scene. "The fire burned up the hay meadow before getting into a small grove of. trees near Highway 281. The fire then jumped the highway and threatened the old Midway store and several hundred bales stored behind the store. Fire crews stopped the fire on the east side of the highway before doing much damage. The burning trees created so much smoke that the highway was shutdown by the Nebraska State Patrol. Firemen were on scene from 2:00 p.m. till 8:30 p.m. On Tuesday morning lightening started a fire eight miles north of O'Neill on the west side of the highway. The brief rain extinguished the fire but crews were on scene putting out hot spots till 4:00 a.m.