Army Guardsmen help state battle fires in Valentine

Nearly 60 Nebraska Army National Guard Soldiers were called up in mid-July to help battle a raging wildfire and triple-digit temperatures near Valentine, Neb. 

According to Capt. Ryan Earleywine, Nebraska National Guard Military Support Office, the Guard Soldiers were called into action early July 17 when three wildfires broke out in the ravines north of Valentine at approximately 4:30 p.m. the afternoon before.

Those fires soon merged into one large blaze that destroyed 12 homes and charred around 3,000 acres of woodlands on the outskirts of the north-central Nebraska community and forced the evacuation of around 200 residents, including patients at a nearby hospital.

Within hours after the fire broke out, Gov. Dave Heineman mobilized a number of state assets and organizations to help officials deal with the blaze, including members of the Nebraska National Guard.

“I want to assure the people of Valentine and Cherry County that Nebraska is paying close attention to the scale and scope of this natural disaster, and we will do all we can to assist regional firefighting efforts,” said Heineman in announcing the mobilization of the Nebraska National Guard and other state emergency assets.

Among those initially responding to the emergency were dozens of fire departments, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency and the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office’s Wildland Incident Response and Assistance Team, which includes the Nebraska Forest Service.

The Guard’s initial response came in the form of two Army Guard helicopters – a UH-60 Black Hawk from Lincoln and a CH-47 Chinook from Grand Island – both of which arrived on scene on July 18 and began aiding fire fighters battling the blaze in the nearby rugged canyons and draws.

Although Nebraska Guard helicopters have helped fight wildfires in the past, this deployment was somewhat unique in the fact that the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was actually a “loaner” from the Arizona Army Guard to replace Nebraska’s Black Hawks which are currently deploying to Iraq, while this marked the first operational mission of the newly arrived CH-47 Chinook. 

According to 2nd Lt. Dustin Wilkie, Chinook pilot, the CH-47 helicopter had an immediate impact with its ability to drop 2,000 gallons of water from its massive bambi bucket.

“They got the biggest bang for the buck with us going up in the canyons where the ground crews couldn’t get into,” said Wilkie. “In the afternoon we were only carrying 1,800 gallons of water, and it seemed to put quite a dent in the hot spots to help them (fire fighters) control it.”

By July 18, much of the fire had been brought under control, however, because of high winds and triple digit temperatures, firefighters continued to have problems keeping local hotspots from erupting.

In order to aid the firefighters, 37 Soldiers from Chadron’s 1057th Transportation Company and 13 Soldiers from Norfolk’s181st and 317th Engineer Detachments (Fire Fighting) were mobilized and sent to Valentine.

According to Earleywine, the Chadron Soldiers were all “redcard holders,” meaning that they’d been trained and certified to fight fires on federal park land. They worked with Norfolk Soldiers who were equipped with two massive, all-terrain fire trucks. Like the CH-47 crew, this was the first operational mission of the two Norfolk fire fighting teams.

According to Spc. Daniel Prather of the 181st Eng. Det., the deployment of the Norfolk crews was a true test of the new unit’s capabilities and ability to rapidly respond to a state emergency.

“We had people that were pretty well scattered out all over the state. A lot of my Soldiers were from Lincoln, Omaha, and Fremont,” said Prather.  “We put the alert out at (9 a.m.) and left at (1 p.m.) on Monday. Everyone just kind of dropped everything they had going and got here.”

The Guard additionally sent a fuel truck and crew from Lincoln to assist with the aviation effort.

Once in Valentine, the Soldiers joined more than 140 firefighters from 47 Nebraska and South Dakota fire departments, who had responded to the emergency.

By the evening of June18, most flare ups had been contained and fresh fire departments arrived giving the Guard, State Patrol, and Valentine fire departments  their first rest.

According to Wilkie, the mission was truly a state-wide effort, adding “that community really rallied around everyone. The fire hall was packed full of volunteers bringing Gatorade and water to keep everyone going, we got a ton of support from the community and everyone was really nice.”

Heineman also noted the state-wide cooperation after visiting Valentine on July 17.

“This is Nebraska at its best,” said Heineman in a new s release issued by the Governor’s Office. “Even in this difficult situation of extreme heat coupled with the unpredictability of fighting a canyon fire, there are 30 department and more than 140 firefighters from both Nebraska and South Dakota towns working through the night to contain this fire.”

By the afternoon of June 19, fears again rose as high winds and continued triple digit temperatures caused local officials to worry that the fire might again move up through canyons leading directly back into town.

The hard work of the 181st and 317th crews paid off during this time.

“We weren’t in a battle for the blaze by any means, but we were definitely a big part of the preventative from it getting started again,” said Prather.

“They (the locals) were very supportive; we worked very well with the volunteer department there. They had people constantly bringing in food, water and Gatorade, they were very supportive.”

By the end of the day the fire was contained and controlled.

By the morning of July 20, all National Guard Soldiers were released to their home units. According to Earleywine the UH- 60 and CH-47 crews dumped over 200,000 gallons of water during the operation. 

“It was nice to be able to use these Ch-47s, to be able to help out a state mission,” said Wilkie. “We worked well with the civilian authorities and they worked well with us.”