Nebraska National Guard, (Courtesy)
NEBRASKA — The Nebraska National Guard is continuing to assist firefighters battling ongoing wildfires in western and central Nebraska.
The Guard’s support includes UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, crews and supporting staff from the Nebraska and Iowa National Guard, who have been helping fight the historic Cottonwood and Morrill County fires that have burned nearly 800,000 acres combined since the evening of March 12-13. The Morrill County wildfire alone is the largest in Nebraska state history.
National Guard helicopter crews are also now assisting local firefighters battle two new wildfires that broke out March 26 in Grant County near the communities of Bingham, Ashby and Hyannis. The helicopters are equipped with Bambi buckets, which allow the helicopter crews to drop water onto the fires from the air.
Along with the aerial support, members of a Nebraska Army and Air National Guard ground firefighting hand crew are continuing to support local firefighters in conducting line construction, hotspot suppression and mop-up operations, while also being available to assist in fighting the new wildfires.
According to a member of the Nebraska Air National Guard, this effort has proven to be both challenging and rewarding.
“This is a lot of physical exertion…climbing through some of these hills, in these ravines, some of these cliff sides,” said Senior Master Sgt. Corbin Hamernik, a member of the Nebraska National Guard firefighting hand crew on Friday, March 20, while supporting firefighting efforts at the Cottonwood fire south of Brady, Nebraska. “It’s gorgeous, but it is very rough terrain.”
He said one particular experience sticks out. Early in the mission, the National Guard team had spent the entire day fighting the fires when they received a late afternoon call from a hand crew that needed more resources.
“We scurried like mountain goats, basically running up the hill, tied in with them, and it was just, hand crew, Airman, hand crew, Soldier, hand crew, Airman… we were all tied in there just fighting the same fight,” Hamernik said. “It was a very interesting experience for us. I don’t know that I was ever going to be able to experience that, but that’s why we train. That’s why we were doing that. And I’m beyond proud of everybody that afternoon.”
