The Nebraska National Guard is continuing to assist local and state firefighting efforts as multiple wildfires burn across western and central Nebraska, including some of the largest fires in state history.
Guard support includes UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, aircrews, and support personnel from both the Nebraska and Iowa National Guard. These teams have been actively working to contain the historic Cottonwood and Morrill County wildfires, which have burned nearly 800,000 acres combined since igniting the evening of March 12 and 13. The Morrill County wildfire alone is now the largest wildfire ever recorded in Nebraska.
In addition to those ongoing efforts, National Guard helicopter crews were deployed to assist with two new wildfires reported March 26 in Grant County near Bingham, Ashby, and Hyannis. The helicopters are equipped with Bambi buckets, allowing crews to drop large amounts of water from the air to help slow the spread of the flames.
On the ground, members of a Nebraska Army and Air National Guard firefighting hand crew continue to support local responders. Their work includes building containment lines, suppressing hotspots, and conducting mop-up operations. These crews also remain ready to assist with newly emerging fires as conditions evolve.
For those involved, the mission has proven both physically demanding and deeply meaningful.
“This is a lot of physical exertion…climbing through some of these hills, in these ravines, some of these cliff sides,” said Senior Master Sgt. Corbin Hamernik, a member of the Nebraska National Guard firefighting hand crew, speaking March 20 while working on the Cottonwood fire south of Brady. “It's gorgeous, but it is very rough terrain.”
Hamernik recalled one moment that stood out during the response. After a full day of firefighting, his team answered a late-afternoon call for additional support from another crew.
“We scurried like mountain goats, basically running up the hill, tied in with them, and it was just, hand crew, Airman, hand crew, Soldier, hand crew, Airman… we were all tied in there just fighting the same fight,” he said. “It was a very interesting experience for us. I don't know that I was ever going to be able to experience that, but that's why we train. That's why we were doing that. And I'm beyond proud of everybody that afternoon.”
The Nebraska National Guard says it will continue supporting firefighting operations as long as needed, working alongside local, state, and regional partners to protect communities and limit further damage.