Ranchers Julie and James Hawkins were at the dentist, two hours from their Arthur, Neb., ranch, when they got the call. The smoke was encroaching.
With Julie behind the wheel, and little regard for the speed limit, James was on the phone with their children — Annie, 17, and Ward, 21 — talking them through how to ready the tractor, disc, trucks, trailers and water rig for battle.
When Julie and James arrived back at the ranch around 5:30 p.m., they could see a massive plume.
“It looked like a storm front coming in, and then I realized it was all smoke,” James recalls. “The fire line was several miles wide.”
Frantic calls to the neighbors and the Garden County Sheriff revealed the wildfire was already “2 miles east of Racket Road,” a key landmark that meant it was close.
It was go time. Ward left with the tractor and disc to cut a firebreak around their hay yard. James took the fire truck. Annie followed with a pickup and trailer loaded with horses. Julie hopped in another truck to find their cows.
She expected their cows to be sheltered beneath a hill, but they weren’t there. She took out over the rough terrain to keep looking.
“I topped this ridge, and there’s fire and there’s my cows,” she recalls. “I honked the horn, ‘Come on, girls, let’s go.’ The fire was on my northwest, it was on my west and it had already shot past south, underneath Ward Hill.”
The panic set in because she had left her husband and daughter at Ward Hill filling the water tank on the fire truck.
Julie coaxed the cows to safety down into the valley where her son disced a firebreak to protect their hay yard. James and Annie had outrun the wildfire and made it back to the hay yard. The family turned on its irrigation pivot and moved the horses, trailers, saddles and other valuable equipment behind the pivot for protection.
A Fire Wall Several Miles Wide Leaves Destruction
The Hawkins family was one of the many ranchers impacted by the historic Morrill Fire that burned more than 642,000 acres.
The “fast-moving, overwhelming event” that started on March 12 devastated pasture and hay resources, describes Dusty Wilson, a fourth-generation cow-calf producer from southwest Arthur County, but it also revealed the strength and generosity of the ranching community.
Northwest winds up to 75 mph meant firefighters’ efforts were no match for the west-to-east threat that escalated quickly, he explains.
Wilson and his 84-year-old father, Delwin, stayed behind to move cattle and fight fire while his wife and kids evacuated.
The father-and-son duo drove to the calving pasture blaring the horn, trying to locate and call the cows in the dark and smoke.
“We had already tried to move a few other bunches, opening gates to give them areas of exit,” Wilson says.
They were unable to locate the cows when they noticed the fire was moving closer and it was time to evacuate. They left the pasture, praying the cows could find protection from the fire.
When the fire reached Wilson’s place he describes the wall of fire was several miles wide, and it “boiled over the hill” right behind his dad’s house, his barn and their shop.
“We almost got trapped,” he recalls. “We were able to find a safe spot, a sandy spot, around a windmill to park and shelter until that wave got around us.”
Both the Hawkins and Wilson families spent Thursday night fighting fire along with their neighbors and volunteer firefighters. Generations of family members, including kids, worked together to help move cows, horses, equipment and pets while other family members scouted fire location and wind shifts.
Miracle in the Sandhills: Wilson and Hawkins Herds Survive
The Hawkins family lost more than half the ranch’s summer grazing land. They were able to save their home, hay and cattle.
“It pretty much took most everything, pasture-wise, from all of our surrounding neighbors, as it did us,” Wilson explains.
He lost 13,500 acres of grass and all the hay supplies he had allocated to get the ranch through calving, until turnout, and also for some carryover.
“We were able to save our home valley — our main hay meadow,” Wilson says. “We were able to save our two houses — it burned right up next to each of those. Thankfully, we were able to save our structures. Our cattle, thankfully, were safe.”
He describes the cattle’s survival as miraculous as the pasture around them was charred.
“I fully expected to find a great amount of death loss,” Wilson says when he went to check on the cows the next morning. “I was just amazed when I saw they were safe and unharmed. They were able to tuck under one big sandhill and were in one spot under that hill where the fire didn’t burn. There was a halo or arc that remained where it didn’t burn.”
He’s not sure if the cows heard the horn or if they simply relied on their instincts to find safety.
With no grazing for the coming season, Wilson says the biggest need for Sandhills ranchers is hay and feed.
“We’re going to have to supplement these cattle every day for quite some time now. Our hope is that we can keep everything that’s going to calve here.”
Across the Miles, More Acres Burn Due to Wildfire
On the same day, more than 100 miles away, the Cottonwood Fire was burning in Lincoln and Dawson counties south of I-80.
Adam Grabenstein lives 10 miles south of Gothenburg along Highway 47, where the Cottonwood Fire began. Between 8:30 and 9 p.m., the fire crossed Highway 47 and within 45 minutes, it was on his doorstep.
“The wind was horrible,” he recalls. “Fifty to 60 mph sustained winds. You couldn’t see for the dust or the smoke, extremely, extremely dangerous conditions.”
Thanks to the efforts of local farmers, they were able to stop the fire about 4 miles north of the Highway 23 and 47 junction, east of Farnam.
“A lot of farmers hooked up their tractors and discs and hightailed it over there to help us stop the fire,” he explains. “When the wind switched out of the north, all the valley farmers brought their tractors and discs. When the wind switched again, it was kind of a reversal with guys from the south country going north. That demonstrates the heart and grit of rural America.”
Fighting fires all night, Grabenstein recalls how neighbors were helping neighbors, stressing the loss could have been much worse.
“There were points when you just felt helpless because the conditions were so ripe for fire — it was out of control,” he recalls of the emotions of that night. “You’re doing all you can, but it’s an extremely dangerous environment.”
His farming and ranching headquarters and feedlot are 10 miles south of his house.
“My house is safe, but obviously we had a lot of smoke damage,” he says. “We’ve lost more than 2,500 acres of grazing lands.”
The difference between the Cottonwood and Morrill fire is terrain and fire fuel. Much of the Cottonwood fire included cedar trees and other wooded areas. To date, the Cottonwood Fire has burned more than 129,000 acres.
The Loss of a Neighbor
The Morrill wildfire claimed the life of 86-year-old Rose White of Arthur County.
Both the Hawkins and Wilsons called her a beloved neighbor who loved Halloween and hosting her neighbors and their children.
“Across the hills from where we were gathering cows, she lives about 3.5 miles southwest,” Julie explains.
White got stuck trying to leave her homestead, which had stood for more than 100 years. Reports say they found her about 15 feet from her vehicle. The whole place — the barn, house and vehicle — all burned.
Wilson says White lived 2 miles north of his ranch. Knowing her his entire life, he recalls the devastation he felt when he heard she died when he was still fighting fire on Thursday night.
“She’s a longtime family friend and was a longtime neighbor. We loved Rose,” he says. “She was a sweet, dear lady, always very friendly, happy and had a joyous personality. We’ll definitely miss her.”
When the Adrenaline Fades: The Hidden Toll on Ranchers
With little spring or summer grazing land left and most of their hay inventory burned, numerous Nebraska cow-calf ranchers are leaning on donated feed, disaster aid and tight-knit ranching communities to overcome the tremendous loss due to wildfires. The fires that ignited on March 12 continue to burn at 98% containment.
“We’ve had just terrific response from ranchers in other communities donating hay and fencing supplies or offering to come help with labor,” Wilson says. “The outpour of generosity has been amazing.”
There’s no doubt split-second choices and the grit to fight for their land and livestock defined how producers survived the recent wildfires.
“God is a big God, and he can send rains and heal our land, yet the damage that has been done is going to take time to heal,” Julie summarizes.
Reflecting on past blizzards, droughts and fires, Wilson adds: “There’s always challenges, there’s always loss. But I think the heart of the Sandhills people, and with the grit of the Nebraska Sandhills rancher, we’re going to continue that heritage and tradition, accept this head on and rebuild what we can and keep moving forward.”
Your Next Reads:
Ranchers Rally as Nebraska Faces Historic Wildfires
Historic Wildfires Continue to Scorch Western and Central Nebraska
After Wildfire: Livestock Care, Documentation and Recovery
Using the D.A.R.T. Method to Identify Smoke-Stressed Calves
