Fires burn near Papillion, David City Thursday amid dangerous fire weather
Fires burned in Sarpy and Butler Counties Thursday evening as the National Weather Service continued to warn of fire risk due to dry, windy weather.
Most of Nebraska and eastern Iowa were under a red flag warning Thursday, Laurel McCoy, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service's office in Valley, said.
"Conditions are right today for any fires that start to spread rapidly," McCoy said.
Sarpy County officials reported a brush fire in a bean field near South 96th Street and Hardwood Drive at around 5:40 p.m. As of 6:40 p.m., 96th Street remained closed between Hardwood Drive and Capehart Road due to the fire.
The National Weather Service also issued a fire warning for Butler County Thursday as a large fire burning south of David City was rapidly moving north.
The warning was issued at the request of Butler County Emergency Management to remind people to heed evacuation orders and other directions from local law enforcement, McCoy said.
A dispatcher with Butler County said, as of 6 p.m., multiple fire departments were continuing to fight the fire, which was burning corn.
A post on David City's Facebook account warned residents of multiple fires south of the town and asked residents to stay away from the area and off of area highways unless there is an emergency.
A candidate forum scheduled for Thursday evening at the David City Auditorium had been cancelled so the building could be used as as an evacuation site, according to another post shared by the David City Facebook account.
Also on Thursday, flames fanned by 40-mph winds created a large range fire near Kenesaw. On Wednesday, firefighters answered the call to Loup City, where hundreds of acres were burning.
Early Wednesday evening, Miller Fire Chief Phillip Schroeder called his volunteers to a field of cut corn farmed by Ryan Fischer about 2-3 miles northeast of Miller.
On Oct. 6, firefighters from Gretna and other area communities put out a field fire on land belonging to Vala's Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard that billowed smoke across Interstate 80.
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