Custer County Fires: A Report from the Front Lines

Editor’s Note: Firefighters from across the state spent last week battling a series of fires that would go on to burn more that 6,000 acres. Dubbed the Custer County Complex Fires, the first began on Monday, February 24, fueled by a combination of high winds, low humidity and dry conditions. More than 150 personnel from 46 fire departments, as well as the Nebraska National Guard, were called on to combat the blaze.Several local fire departments were among those who answered the call, including the Fairbury Rural Fire Department, Diller Fire and Rescue, Odell Volunteer Fire and Rescue, Barneston Rural Volunteer Fire Department, Wymore Fire and Rescue, Beatrice Rural Fire and Plymouth Volunteer Fire Department and Fairbury.Barneston Rural Fire Chief Taylor McHenry, who served as deployment task force leader, gives a first hand look at what it was like for those trying to keep the conflagration at bay. The following is adapted from McHenry's “After Action Report.” Taylor McHenry, Barneston Rural Fire Chief and deployment task force leader (referred to as "I" or "myself" for the duration of this statement), along with 14 firefighters, six type 6 engines (brush trucks) and one command/transport vehicle arrived at the Broken Bow Fire Station (incident command center) at 0620 (6:20 a.m.) on February 26th, 2025. We were served breakfast at 0630 (6:30 a.m.) and then part of the crew got the apparatus ready to head out to the incident while the other part of us reported to the morning briefing where I received our IAP (Incident Action Plan) and we were given our shift assignment. We were assigned to the East Table Fire division along with three (3) type 6 engines from the South Central Wildland Task Force. Our assignment was three parts. Patrol Fire Perimeter. Contain fire within the current footprint. Mop up hot spots with escape potential.After meeting with our Division Superintendent and the South Central Wildland Task Force Leader (Bill), we came up with a communications plan for our crews. Since interoperability can be a challenge when you have so many different radio systems being brought into a single incident, this is always a challenge to overcome. We decided that the Division Superintendent, Bill, and myself would monitor and use the main IC channel for our direct communication method and out on the line our 3&33 Task Force would run on our local UTAC channel so that we had direct communication that would not interfere with IC communications. Bill also borrowed one of our handheld radios so that he and myself had multiple points of contact. Once we had the planning aspect of the assignment figured out, we gathered our crews and headed out to the assignment. Upon reaching our assignment, we had a brief op briefing with our crew to clarify the assignment and our plan to carry it out. The first couple of hours was spent patrolling the fire perimeter and cold mopping the exterior fire line. Cold mopping simply means if something is warm, you make it cold. We agreed that the perimeter should be mopped roughly 1.5 to 2 chains in from the control line. (1 chain is 66 feet). We had a few hours in the morning with cooler conditions and higher humidity so we decided to take the opportunity to "clean up" the line as much as possible before lower RH (relative humidity) and higher fire danger set in during the afternoon. For this operation we worked in teams of two engines per hotspot and worked our way up the perimeter of our division. Once the perimeter was satisfactory, we proceeded to patrol and monitor further into the burn footprint and continue extinguishing any hotspots we might encounter. Early in the day, most hot spots were limited to burning logs and some shorter fuels that had not burnt out in the initial fire. The terrain was definitely a lot different than what we are used to in our local areas. We were about a mile back off the public roadway, the hills were steeper than what we generally see around here and the terrain was filled with deep draws and box canyons that we had to carefully navigate around. A lot of our hotspots were located in the canyons and were only accessible by foot. Around our local area, we are spoiled by being able to access most everything while mounted on an apparatus with a water hose in hand. Out on these larger fires where we are called in to secure fire lines and assist with mop up, most of our work is done with hand tools by digging fire lines and chopping burning timbers by hand or removing them from an area with unburnt fuel and placing them in areas where they pose no risk such as already burnt out “black areas.” One common hazard we see on larger fires is what we call a “dirty burn.” This is where the initial fire burnt through areas so fast that it does not consume all of the available fuel. This can be caused by different moisture levels in the fuels. On this fire we had a lot of cedar trees and matted ground cover that was not burnt during the initial fire. This poses an exceptional risk when working on foot because under the right conditions these unburned fuels could ignite and pose immediate risk to firefighters in the area. With so much unburnt fuel in the area, extra caution had to be taken while working down in the canyons away from our apparatus. The majority of the morning was pretty routine just monitoring and addressing these hot spots. Around noon, the South Central Wildland Task Force was pulled off our assignment to go up to the Lillian Fire Division to assist with some burn out operations. This was okay because we still had our six 3&33 Task Force Engines to handle our assignment. Our biggest incident of the day came around 12:45 p.m. when our apparatus from Wymore notified me of an interior flare up in a canyon on the north side of our division. At this time I requested all of our apparatus to head to that location while we evaluated the situation and came up with a plan to address it safely. It just happened that when the notification came in I was having an in person check in with our division superintendent so he headed towards the flare up as well. Upon reaching a high point where we could oversee the canyon, it was determined that the flare up was the result of a creeping fire in the canyon reaching a slash pile (trees and tree limbs removed during fire line construction). We had one engine stationed at an elevated position downwind of the flare up where they could get a good view of the situation. They sprayed water from above to get the fire knocked down but that was the extent of their access capabilities due to the terrain. We determined that we needed to get down to the fire area to make sure we put it to bed. The 2 o'clock hour was coming quickly and in wildland firefighting, 2 o'clock is generally the happy hour for wildfires where the RH drops and the afternoon sun promotes drying and fire activity begins to pick up. A contracted skid loader operator was nearby and observed a partial opening that he believed he could clear enough with his skid loader to access the bottom of the canyon and get to the seat of the flare up where we needed to be for proper extinguishment. His concern was he wanted a fire apparatus with him in case the fire would flare up while he was attempting to gain access. Our engine from Fairbury was nearby and when asked if they would be willing to follow the skid loader they agreed they could. The situation was a little nerve racking due to the terrain and risk involved. The wind was also starting to pick up at this point and change direction. The problem was, if the fire in the canyon would flare up and take off it could begin to torch unburnt cedar trees along the canyon walls and with flames height potential of up to 50 feet, this would pose a risk for hot embers to be pushed by the gusty winds and the fire could “spot” over our control line. With the ability to have a lookout posted above who could also reach the seat of the flare up with water to support the lower engine, it was decided that the risk would be worth the reward if we could get down in there and get the area mopped up before it became a large problem. We also had our Diller and Odell engines staged on the south side of the canyon working on a couple hotspots along with myself and crew in our Barneston Engine on the north side. Essentially, we had everything in place if something were to go wrong. Luckily, the skid loader operator was very efficient and gained access to the bottom of the canyon quickly and our Fairbury engine was able to get down there and get the area mopped up. I think the entire flare up containment operation from the time it started until the time it was controlled was probably only about 20 minutes. But in unfamiliar area and dealing with situations we train for but are not accustomed to dealing with all the time, 20 minutes seemed like forever for me as a task force leader on my first deployment in that position. The safety of our crew is always our number one priority no matter how critical or non critical the situation appears to be. Once the flare up was contained, our division superintendent requested I follow him around the perimeter so we could look at some of the critical areas that IC had determined we may need to keep an eye on throughout the afternoon as fire activity had the potential to pick up. One area was about a three to five acre patch of unburnt cedar trees just over the hill from the canyon where the flare up occurred. The concern was that the initial fire had burnt itself out somewhere along the timber floor and there was really no way to gain an effective control line due to the thick vegetation and terrain. During the prior day's operational period, it was reported that ground crew personnel had walked into the area and had put eyes on the majority of the fire line, and that was how it was determined it had burnt itself out below the cedar trees. The risk involved here was if there was anything smoldering under the trees that went undetected, during the heat of the day a flare up could occur and this would certainly spread rapidly. It was decided that we needed to post a look out on top of the hill overlooking the area that could report smoke as soon as possible so that we could mitigate the problem or at least know immediately that we had one. From there we proceeded down around the perimeter and observed the other areas of concern which were mostly the eastward points of the canyons where strong winds funneling up and out could cause rekindles in the bottoms and then begin to torch the unburnt fuel on the canyon banks.With a plan in place we returned back to where the crews were working mopping hot spots. I requested the Beatrice Rural Fire Engine to sit on the hill and act as our fire watch over the grove of unburnt cedar trees. The Wymore and Fairbury engines were left to keep an eye on and tend to the canyon which had contained the flare up earlier, and the Odell and Diller Engines proceeded with mop up around the fire footprint. Myself along with our Barneston firefighter in Barneston Engine 22 would patrol and monitor the east side of our division and handle hot spots as discovered and could call for assistance if needed. The rest of the day was uneventful, and in wildfire that means it is a good day. The afternoon was spent patrolling and addressing minor hotspots as they occurred. Around 6:00 p.m., I met up with our division superintendent again and he was very happy with our progress on the division. By this time basically all evident hot spots had been addressed and extinguished or control lines had been manually cut around them so that they could not spread. He asked that I gather all of our apparatus in one area around 6:30 so that he could sign our shift tickets to make the demobilization process go quicker upon returning to IC after our replacement crew arrived on scene at 7 p.m. Once all paperwork was properly signed, we began our descent back down to the public roadway where we gathered and drained the water from our engines. After this was complete we proceeded to return to Broken Bow IC for check out and demobilization. This took a little time but soon enough we were back on the road home. Once we got back to our local area Beatrice broke off and headed for home, and the rest of us made a quick stop at Fairbury before going our separate ways. We backed Barneston Engine 22 back into its bay at the station and put it back into service at 1:06 a.m. on February 27th.A lot of people may question why we would go so far away just to perform mop up duty on a fire. The truth is, and it is the same with our local fires, mop up duty/fire line control is just as important as anything else on a fire scene. Mop up is what puts the fire to bed and makes sure it is no longer a problem and can no longer spread to threaten more property, homes, or communities. I look at it this way, without proficient mop up, you can never really have control of a fire. If you allow the dragon to breathe, sooner or later it is going to burn you. I won't speak for everyone, but for me it is very fulfilling to be able to go out and help fellow firefighters in a time of need. On multi operational period incidents, local resources just get exhausted. Both physically and mentally. And it would be a very dangerous work environment if assets like our 3&33 Mutual Aid Task Force did not exist to help fill in during these extra operational periods with fresh bodies and rested minds. I can not imagine if someone had to work a fire for days on end without having someone there to step up and say, hey brothers and sisters, we got you covered. Go rest. The brotherhood or better referred to as the fire family, is one of the greatest things about the fire service in my personal opinion. At the end of the day, we are all one big team working together to protect our neighbors and each other. And there is no doubt in my mind that when the day comes and we have a large incident on our end of the state that depletes local resources such as what we had with the Rock Creek Fire, they will come running to repay the favor without hesitation.

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