Wauneta firefighters called to nursing home

    Seven residents at the Wauneta Care & Therapy Center were removed from the home after a light fixture fire at the facility last Thursday.
    Wauneta Fire Chief Tanner Bardsley said they were paged about 7 a.m. to the care center where a light fixture in the west wing had started on fire, causing a lot of smoke.
    The seven residents evacuated were in that wing. They were transported by Wauneta ambulance and care center vehicles to the Wauneta-Palisade school gym, he said.
    Bardsley said staff at the home had the fire out using extinguishers. Firefighters set up large fans to help remove the smoke, he said.
    Besides damage to the light, there was also some carpet damage, he said.
    Imperial EMS was called to assist on the scene but were called back while en route, Bardsley said.
    Wauneta firefighters were back in the barn by 9 a.m.
Grass fire NW of Imperial
    A small patch of picked corn, less than an acre, burned Friday afternoon, seven miles north of Lamar, on Scott Bussell ground.
    With trees and a home a quarter mile away, Imperial Fire Chief Doug Mitchell said the fire could have been more threatening had there been wind that afternoon.
    The Lamar Volunteer Fire Department was first on scene and applied water to the burning stalks, ahead of Imperial’s arrival.
    Mitchell said Bussell was very prepared for a possible fire with fire extinguishers in all of his vehicles, “something every farmer should do,” he said.
    The fire started in one of the combines in the field that afternoon, Mitchell said.