48 hours on the front lines: Battle Creek firefighter reflects on the fight of the Cottonwood Fire
As more than 500,000 acres burned across western Nebraska, volunteers with the Battle Creek Fire Department in northeast Nebraska received a call for help while most were still asleep.
BATTLE CREEK, Neb. — As more than 500,000 acres burned across western Nebraska, volunteers with the Battle Creek Fire Department in northeast Nebraska received a call for help while most were still asleep.
“Midnight rolled around, and we got the text, alright from there we need to be in Albion by three am,” said Kylie Voecks.
Kylie Voecks and Chris Tillotson were the first from Battle Creek to go help fight the Cottonwood Fire, which had scorched 25,000 acres by Friday, March 13.
While deployed to the Jeffrey Lake area south of Brady, Voecks said firefighters risked being surrounded by flames due to the rugged terrain and wind gusts exceeding 60 mph.
“But the terrain was atrocious. It was hard to even ground yourself,” said Voecks. “With the wind behavior and that much fire, it creates a whole different atmosphere, and so you could be in one area and by the time you turn around that fire is already right over you.”
Voecks says communication nearly impossible, but crews restored contact with aircrafts just when it was needed most.
“We had no phone service either so the phone service was real spotty, you had to go pretty high to get phone service.”
Voecks credits Tilden pilot Brian Wilcox, and another pilot for saving the lives of the crew multiple times.
“By the grace of God, I was like, ‘why is my phone going off?’ and I did get a text from him,” said Voecks. “I’m like ‘this is awesome,’ and within three minutes, he had airdrops on us.”
Voecks spent 48 hours facing those conditions on the front lines of the Cottonwood Fire. But even after tagging out for relief crews, she felt her work was far from over.
“But knowing there are people to come relieve you, other volunteer groups lined up behind you like, ‘hey, go get a break’ ,it was great knowing that,” said Voecks. “But leaving I just felt so defeated, like we didn’t make progress, we didn’t get anywhere,” .
A week later, the Cottonwood Fire is 94% contained. Voecks may have left feeling like there was more to do, but she says nothing compared to finally holding her two children again.
“But that next morning mom hug, I took it all in," Voecks said. "They were on top of me and I’m dead tired, but I’m like ‘I’ll take it. They're all mine.’”