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Rancher describes heartbreak after wildfire burns hundreds of thousands of acres in Nebraska

A rancher in western Nebraska says she’s still processing the destruction of a large wildfire that raced across the area recently.

“Just a lot of heartbreak and a lot of chaos.  It’s been pretty hard.”

Glenna Sherfey and her husband help manage a ranch near the village of Lisco. She says the fire ignited Thursday night and burned 900 acres of pasture. “Just looking across those hills, it just looks like a desert. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She says the blaze was controlled in the first 24 hours before the winds shifted and reignited portions of it Friday night. Sherfrey says her home and outbuildings were not damaged.  

And, she says, the 800-head cow herd is safe. “Driving up through the hills where you can see a football field size of grass, and it’s just black around it. There will be cattle standing there. They’re just fine.”

Sherfey tells Brownfield, “Our foreman had gone across the road yesterday morning to check things and he said the cattle are content. They’re laying around and chewing their cud. They’re not really wanting to move around.”

She says the next steps include assessing fencing losses, moving parts of the herd to different ranches and selling off animals due to loss of feed.

State fire officials estimate that more than 800,000 acres have been lost from four wildfires that started late last week.

• The Morrill County fire near Lake McConaughy has consumed more than 600,000 acres with about 10 percent contained.






• The Cottonwood Fire near Gothenburg has charred more than 100,000 acres.






• The Road 203 Fire near Halsey has burned more than 50,000 acres.

Following an aerial tour on Saturday, Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen told reporters the damage was better than anticipated. “There were a number of ranch homes and corrals that were spared. Cattle were there. We saw lots of momma cows that were walking across burnt ground and going to water tanks. I’m not saying there’s no loss of livestock, but things were way better from that perspective than what I thought.”

Ag Director Sherry Vinton said if producers have immediate needs, they need to contact their local emergency management. “For recovery after the disaster, at that point in time, make sure your losses are documented and then FSA will have announcements forthcoming.”

Executive Vice President Laura Field with the Nebraska Cattlemen says their relief fund will accept donations starting Monday. “We’re going to try and coordinate hay needs, fence needs and livestock needs. I think it’s going to be pretty tough news coming out of these areas. We’ve heard from some people that the fires missed them. That’s good, but we know that there were evacuations in some pretty big agricultural areas.”

Visit https://www.nebraskacattlemen.org/ for more information.

Glenna Sherfey:

Audio credit of the Governor’s press conference to Brownfield affiliate KSID.

• Prelim – Zachary Ourada won by decision over Drew Stanfield (Central Mo.) 17-8 (Dec 8-1)
• Champ. Round 1 – #5 James Joplin (Lander, S.C.) won by decision over Zach Ourada (Dec 10-6)
• Cons Rd 1 – Zach Ourada won by tech over Eli Carrington (Belmont Abbey, N.C.) (TF 6:00; 19-4)
• Cons. Round 2 – #6 Jakob Romero (Adams State) won by decision over Zach Ourada (Dec 5-3)

141 lbs. – 5th seed Joseph Airola (26-6) placed 5th and scored 9.0 team points

165 lbs. – 5th seed Trenton Munoz (26-7) placed 2nd and scored 15.0 team points

• Champ. Round 1 – Trenton Munoz won by decision over Kole Marko (Minnesota St.) (Dec 6-1)
• Quarterfinal – Trenton Munoz won by decision over #4 Grant MacKay (Gannon, Pa.) (Dec 4-1)
• Semifinal – Trenton Munoz won by decision over #1 Nolan Gessler (Tiffin, Ohio) (Dec 10-5)
• 1st Place Match – #2 David Hunsberger (Lander, S.C.) won by decision over Trenton Munoz (Dec 9-4)

174 lbs. – 3rd seed Otgonbayar Batsuuri (21-7) placed 1st scored 21.0 team points

• Champ. Round 1 – Otgonbayar Batsuuri won by dec over Cole Ritter (Maryville, Mo.) (Dec 9-3)
• Quarterfinal – Otgonbayar Batsuuri won by dec over #6 Emilio Arellano (Tiffin, Ohio) (Dec 14-10)
• Semifinal – Otgonbayar Batsuuri won by fall over Kydyn Lima (San Francisco State) (Fall 4:04)
• 1st Place Match – Otgonbayar Batsuuri won by decision over #1 Hunter Jump (Central Okla.) (Dec 7-3)

184 lbs. – 5th seed Kaden Hart (18-9) placed 6th and scored 9.5 team points

• Champ. Round 1 – Kaden Hart won by decision over Oliver Byerly (West Liberty, W.V.) (Dec 2-1)
• Quarterfinal – #4 Damon Ashworth (Central Mo.) won by decision over Kaden Hart (Dec 4-1)
• Cons. Round 2 – Kaden Hart won by tech fall over Cole Casilio (Kutztown, Pa.) (TF 7:00; 15-0)
• Cons. Round 3 – Kaden Hart won by decision over #1 Cole Glazier (St. Cloud State) (Dec 4-2)
• Cons. Semi – #2 Keegan Gehlhausen (Chadron State) won by decision over Kaden Hart (Dec 6-4)
• 5th Place Match – Sullivan Ramos (Wisconsin-Parkside) won by decision over Kaden Hart (Dec 11-8)

197 lbs. – 4th seed Jackson Kinsella (21-8) placed 6th and scored 9.0 team points

• Champ. Round 1 – Jackson Kinsella won by major decision over Ethan Farnell (Indianapolis) (MD 12-4)
• Quarterfinal – #5 Logan Kvien (McKendree, Ill.) won by decision over Jackson Kinsella (Dec 1-0)
• Cons. Round 2 – Jackson Kinsella won in sudden victory over Tyson Meyer (St. Cloud) (SV-1 4-1)
• Cons. Round 3 – Jackson Kinsella won by decision over #9 Jeremiah Larson (Maryville, Mo.) (Dec 7-2)
• Cons. Semi – #6 Mason Villwok (Chadron St.) won in tie breaker over Jackson Kinsella (TB-1 2-1)
• 5th Place Match – Joey Lyons (Gannon, Pa.) won in tie breaker – 1 over Jackson Kinsella (TB 1-1)

285 lbs. – 2nd seed Crew Howard (26-3) placed 2nd and scored 17.0 team points

Watch: Smoke arises from Nebraska wildfires

Video from Nebraska State Patrol shows a helicopter flying over a wildfire in Dawson County. Multiple wildfires are burning in Nebraska as high winds and low humidity create critical fire danger across the state.