Grass fire south of North Platte

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - A grass fire south of North Platte is under control Friday afternoon.

The fire started around 1 p.m. It affected areas along North Lake Rd and South Buffalo Bill in North Platte.

Fire crews believe the fire started at the City Transfer Station before making its way east along North Lake Road to South Buffalo Road.

A trailer with a bad wheel baring coupled with the dry conditions are believed to have sparked the fire. The fire burned more than a mile of land. No structures were destroyed.

“There were 30 foot flames off the trees in the corner there when I pulled up,” said homeowner Ron Gaedke. “The officer isn’t obviously going to let anybody down here so we eventually got to walk down here, but she (looking at his wife) had it under control for me (laughs). Yeah, pretty scary.”

Several volunteer firefighters from Hershey, Well Fleet, Maxwell, Maywood, McPherson County helped the North Platte Fire Department spray ditches and put out the fire.

“Just very thankful that the wind is not blowing today otherwise conditions could’ve been a lot worse along South Buffalo Bill Road where we have Jones and those other housing subdivisions,” said North Platte Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Einspahr. “Once it caught that tree row on fire it was really close to some structures and if we would’ve had a little bit of wind this would’ve been a lot different conversation.”

Fire crews will remain on scene through the evening checking for hotspots.