Dangerous weekend for firefighters, ends Sunday with blaze near Rockford Lake

BEATRICE – An exhausting weekend for area firefighters was capped off with yet another wildfire Sunday afternoon.  It broke out not far from Rockford Lake Recreation area, near a dairy farm.

Beatrice Rural Firefighters were sent to the area of South 66^th and East Lilac Road, where a major fire was burning across a harvested soybean field and unharvested corn.

Fire personnel and units from Filley, Blue Springs, Wymore and Barneston were also sent to the scene. Several farmers with tractors pulling discs helped cut fire lines.

Campers at Rockford Lake were told of the fire, in case they had to leave the scene.  The fire was east of a campground….and the flames were being pushed to the south by north winds at 15-to-25 miles-per-hour, gusting to 30.

Some fire units were tapping into a Beatrice City fire hydrant near Beatrice High School, to refill. 

The fire happened in the same general area where a major fire Sunday burned hundreds of acres and destroyed a building along U.S. Highway 136.

Firefighters fought Sunday afternoon’s blaze from just after 1:00 p.m., until the last firefighters wrapped up work at around 3:30 p.m.