Lodgepole Grass Fire: Grassfire Scorches More Than 2,000 Acres

Eleven departments and more than 100 firefighters responded to a grass fire north of Lodgepole March 4. According to Lodgepole Fire Chief Wade Dickinson, the fire occurred when a previous controlled burn rekindled. Response included departments from Sidney, Oshkosh, Big Springs, Julesburg, Sedgwick, Broadwater, Ovid, Gurley, Chappell, Brule and Lodgepole. There were also two Emergency Management coordinators, 47 fire apparatus, 103 firefighters, four tractors and discs, private water trucks and volunteers with shovels, Dickinson said. "Conditions were very unpleasant," he said. He said the fire was about three-quarters of a mile wide at the widest point. No structures or lives were lost.