IVFD sends help to major fire near Gering

    Three firefighters from the Imperial Volunteer Fire Department spent two days this week helping fight a major wildfire southwest of Gering.
    Dustin Harris, Josh Burke and Mark Bomba were in the panhandle on a two-day shift Monday and Tuesday as part of the Southwest Mutual Aid Task Force.
    They helped battle the Carter Canyon Fire, which on Tuesday morning, had burned 14,630 acres and was just 30% contained, according to Incident Commander Nathan Flowers.
    Fire departments in Grant, Wallace and Keystone-Lemoyne also sent firefighters as part of the Southwest team.
    Officials with the Nebraska Forest Service indicated crews have been dealing with increased wind gusts and shifts, as well as near 100-degree heat.
    NFS spokesperson Ben Bohall reported the fire destroyed three homes and damaged several others as it spread through the dry vegetation in Nebraska’s Wildcat Hills.
    Over the weekend, Region 21 Emergency Management Director Tim Newman told  the Scottsbluff Star-Herald that the wildfire  had four separate start sites.
    A cause had not yet been determined, but because of the number of start sites and the distance between them, officials presumed the fire was caused by lightning.  
    The fire was first reported Saturday evening in heavily treed areas of the Cedar Canyon Wildlife Management Area and Carter Canyon Public Land.
    Officials say tinder-dry conditions, rough terrain and 20 mph winds hampered efforts to control the fires, which merged over the weekend into one fire.