Cornfield fire reaches Republican River trees

Firefighters found themselves in the trees Wednesday. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

"We had to fight it the hard way .... string hose and fight it with shovels," Red Willow Western Fire Chief Bill Elliott said about the fire that roared through trees and underbrush along the Republican River near the Harry Strunk Memorial Rest Area, east of McCook, late Wednesday morning.

The fire is believed to have started with a malfunction in a stalk chopper, and it spread quickly through dry undergrowth and trees gnawed on by beavers.

"Part of the problem," Elliott said, "was trees falling. Lots of trees falling. It was getting kinda spooky."

No one was injured, he said. Six firefighters from the city of McCook provided additional manpower and shovels.

"We were getting tired," he said.

The wind pushed the fire through the stand of trees so quickly that some things -- like cedar trees -- didn't burn.

The wind also helped fan the water from a center pivot irrigation system when it was turned on in the middle of the afternoon.

The cornstalks and tree stand belong to Perry Case of McCook.