Bloomfield Firefighters Lend A Hand With Wildfires

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

Firefighters in Nebraska were working around the clock recently in hopes of containing the several wildfires that have broken out across the north-central region of the state.

Many area figherfighters were summoned in to help battle the blazes and, as of Monday, it appears that the fires are under control and contained.

“A mutual aid call was sent out to many fire departments in the area, including those in Creighton, Bloomfield and Verdigre,” said Laura Hintz, Knox County emergency       manager.

There were about 500 firefighters that helped to assist crews in the area battling the blazes, which broke out more than a week ago. Officials note that the crews should start returning home this week.

Kelly Kumm, Bloomfield Fire Department captain, worked a 24-hour shift with his crew to help battle the fires last week.

“We left Bloomfield Monday afternoon and got back in town Tuesday afternoon,” he said.

His crew was responsible for helping to contain the Mills fire, which was the easternmost blaze.

Kumm added that fire departments from all over the area helped battle the fires, including some departments that came from more than 200 miles away.

Although the fires were partially contained, Kumm said there were big challenges for the crews once they got there.

“The biggest challenge we faced with these fires was communication,” he said. “Everyone that was there had different radio frequencies.”

Kumm added that every county throughout Nebraska has multiple radio channels, and it is “nearly impossible” to program a radio to store 100 or more channels.

Because the expensive radios were largely useless, crews had to find other ways to communicate with each other.

“The only way we could communicate was through texting,” he said. “There was poor cell coverage there, so we would have to talk to people face to face (to get their phone numbers) and than text them to communicate.”

One of the main risks going forward for the region is more lightning fires, which is how the fires in Nebraska were started. All told, more than 70,000 acres of land were burned in the fires, with about $2.5 million in total damage — most of which went to fire personnel salaries and for equipment and supplies crews used. Most of the expenses went to battle the Fairfield Creek fire, which was the largest of the fires in the area.

Most of the damage to the area included pastures being destroyed, hay bales burning, trees and timber burned, and damage to about a dozen homes.

“The last job we had before we came back was defending one of the homes in the area,” Kumm said. “All the crews were able to save a lot of homes from burning.”

When Kumm’s team arrived in the area, they were quickly reminded of how dangerous the fires were.

Kumm said the fires got out into the trees, so firefighters could not simply move in and put the fires out.

“You can’t just drive in to those fires or get to them,” he said. “You really just have to wait for the fire to get out of the trees.”

He added that his crew was not used to the pine trees they were up against, as cedar trees are much more common for the Bloomfield Fire Department to deal with.

Crews also used back burning as a way of reducing the amount of flammable material available to the bushfires. This is the controlled burning of the bush, or material that can be easily set ablaze. It also helps prevent future bushfires.

Kumm said that he is worried about the potential for similar fires to break out along the lake area in northern Knox County. He said that it would be “very dangerous” to have those fires in areas where there are a lot of trees.

However, he added that prevention is the main key in stopping future fires from breaking out. Kumm said that burn bans in place in the area, including Knox County, could help stop fires from sparking.

Penalties for those who break the burn ban in Knox County include a $100 fine, along with any costs to the fire department to put out the fire, and also being criminally liable if you start a fire that leads to someone’s house burning down.

“Despite measures in place, we can’t stop all the accidents and all the lightning from occurring,” Kumm said.

http://yankton.net/articles/2012/08/01/community/doc5018a31bc2f19772657172.txt