OCONTO, Neb.— Near the beginning of the 2 PM hour, first responders were dispatched to reports of a grass fire north of the community of Oconto on West Pressey Road near Pressey Park.
Mutual aid was quickly called for as Broken Bow, Arnold, Anselmo, Merna, Ansley, Eddyville, and Mason City fire departments joined Oconto and Callaway in the fight not long after the initial call. Before 2:30 PM, special attention for ‘structure protection’ was relayed to responders.
As 3 PM approached, it was stated that the fire had jumped a river in the area as it was pushed forward by winds. The fire had already traveled several miles by 3 PM.
Later in the 3 PM hour, Cozad and Lexington were also requested to the site of the blaze. Agricultural aircraft was also seen flying over Broken Bow in the direction of the source of visible smoke ahead of the 4 PM hour.
At 4:20 PM Wednesday, information made available on WildCAD (a computer-aided dispatch system used by wildland fire agencies for automated updates on wildfire incidents) estimated the fire at 1,000 acres in size. The fire was also named the Pressey Fire.
Ahead of the 5 PM hour, a call went out for any additional Custer County fire departments to provide mutual aid who had not already.
As the fight against the fire entered the 5 PM hour, residents who called the KCNI/KBBN studios indicated that they were trying to leave their homes in the Ryno Road area and other areas surrounding the fire scene, but were not able to do so in a timely manner due to people in the area to watch the fire and the scene. One caller also believed they witnessed a truck unable to effectively reach a source of water due to people in the way. Those in the area or traveling to the area to watch need to stay away from the area so that crews can respond effectively.
Approaching 5:30 PM, mutual aid was requested from Litchfield and Arcadia in Sherman County. Several locations were stated to be set up to control traffic to only local traffic along Ryno Road S/SW of Broken Bow.
Nearing 6 PM Wednesday, road graders with fire department vehicles alongside them were observed leaving the highway department location west of Broken Bow on Ryno Road toward the area of the fire.
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The entire KCNI/KBBN listening area and much beyond is in an active Red Flag Warning, indicating that critical fire weather conditions are present due to strong winds, low relative humidity, and warm temperatures. At the KCNI/KBBN studios Wednesday, winds are consistently in the 30 to 40 MPH range (gusting higher at times), humidity is crawling lower into the afternoon hours of the day under 30%, and temperatures have risen into the 80s.
We will continue to update the story above as more information is available.
