Massive wildfires dealt another blow to Nebraska ranchers. Climate change may make them more common. – Flatwater Free Press

This story is made possible through a partnership between Flatwater Free Press and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

Mike Wintz was nearly 4 miles away and in the thick of fighting the Morrill Fire when he heard over the radio that the flames were headed for his home.

“I didn’t leave. I just basically fought my way back towards my ranch,” Wintz said. “A couple of the other outfits were headed to the house to kind of head it off … I just put my trust in the neighbors and the other firefighters.”

The group stopped the fire near Wintz’s front door, but the next day, the winds shifted, the fire flared and Wintz’s home was threatened a second time.

A wall of smoke, wind and heat rolled hard and fast over the hill toward Wintz’s house as a group of firefighters and local ranchers fought to protect his home.

“We would have lost the house … (and) all the buildings, if it wouldn’t have been for them guys, because they stood right in the front of the fire and stayed right with it,” Wintz said. “It got to where it was kind of scary. Am I going to be able to keep on breathing? It was that heavy.”