Gov. Pillen orders a burning ban in Nebraska

LINCOLN — Nebraska first responders have spent the past 24 hours chasing and fighting 24 reported wildfires fed by high winds, and federal officials are fighting another near Halsey.

That’s the report Friday from the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, which helps coordinate state and local disaster response and works with the Nebraska National Guard.

Much of Nebraska has been under a red-flag warning, which indicates conditions are dry enough for an increased risk of wildfires and wind to spread them more quickly.

Gov. Jim Pillen, in a tweet Friday, said he had declared an emergency in Arthur, Dawson, Frontier, Garden, Keith, Lincoln and Morrill Counties to “help combat wildfires.” He’s visiting some of the fire-affected areas on Saturday.

Among state actions, Pillen’s office said he authorized the deployment of 26 members of the National Guard to help fire crews, sent a plane and helicopter to help fight the fires and sent road crews to help with fire breaks. Pillen also issued a burn ban statewide through the end of March 27.

NEMA spokeswoman Katrina Cerveny said the disaster-response agency is working with locals to closely monitor three large wildfires in central and west-central Nebraska.

They’re watching the massive Morrill County Fire that NEMA said had burned as many as 453,299 acres in parts of Morrill, Garden, Keith and Arthur counties That’s the blaze drawing social media attention overnight for flames forcing evacuations near parts of Lake McConaughy, a frequent tourist destination near Lemoyne. As of press time, six structures had already been destroyed in the fire, NEMA said. The state is also watching the Cottonwood Fire in Lincoln, Dawson and Frontier counties, which NEMA said was burning about 100,000 acres of grassland not far from North Platte. At least 300 people remain evacuated from Dawson County, NEMA said. And NEMA is watching the Anderson Bridge Fire in the Kilgore-Cody area, which the state said is burning about 6,000 acres and destroyed at least one structure. Thus far, one person has been reported killed in the three major fires, a death in Arthur County that the Arthur County Sheriff’s Office confirmed via press release was as a result of the Morrill fire. No injuries or deaths have yet been reported from a fourth fire on federal land near Halsey, according to the Nebraska National Forest. Federal fire crews are battling the Road 203 Fire, a 37,468-acre blaze on federal land in north-central Nebraska, in Thomas and Blaine counties near the Nebraska National Forest.

The rush of fires came as responders in Lancaster and Gage counties were still fighting spot fires from Thursday’s flare up while others assess the damage in southeast Nebraska.