Fire, Wind and Teamwork: Quick action saves hay near Bushnell

With strong northwest winds fanning the f lames and another haystack just 10 yards away, a Nov. 2 fire on Doug Lukassen’s property near Bushnell could have ended in a much bigger loss. Instead, 11 volunteer firefighters, a determined landowner and the Kimball County Roads Department joined forces to keep approximately 70 tons of burning hay from becoming an even greater disaster. The fire is believed to have started when old, wet hay bales were moved and spontaneously combusted. Strong winds threatened to spread the flames to the nearby stack. Bushnell Volunteer Fire Chief Klent Schnell said his department was paged out around 11:30 am, responding with seven rigs and 11 firefighters. Before firefighters arrived, Lukassen was already working to protect the remaining hay. “Luckily, before we were there, the landowner had one loader pushing stuff away from the stack and got it stacked by itself,” Schnell said.

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