Grandmother dies fleeing Nebraska’s largest-ever wildfires as residents told to ‘get out’ & officials fear worse to come
State governor Jim Pillen confirmed that Rose White, 86, from Arthur in Arthur County, died in an attempt to flee the raging blaze in Morrill.
“One Nebraskan has lost her life…I won’t go into the circumstances. It hurt a little bit, but the grandma was trying to get away,” he said in a press briefing on Saturday.
“I think it’s really important as our volunteers go and make awareness in the coming days if this wind gets out of control…when you run into someone that is a thick head like me, say ‘get the heck out of here.’”
Everything else in life can be rebuilt he said, urging residents to prioritise their safety and their lives.
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In her obituary, Rose’s family have called her “the smile and heart behind the camera” and a “fearless grandma that fought snakes, healed scrapes, and dried tears with love and treats.”
“She may be gone, but her memory will live on through all of her friends and family.”
Rose is survived by her four sons, four granddaughters, two grandsons, her sister, and twelve great grandchildren.
Her funeral will be held on March 20 in Arthur.
Fears are high that if strong winds pick up in the region, as they are expected to, the fires across central and western Nebraska will continue to spread.
They have already burned over 600,000 acres, more than any fire season ever seen in the state with four fires currently being monitored.
The Morrill County Fire that officials believe was ignited by an electrical fire from strong winds had razed over 450,000 acres to the ground as of Saturday morning.
Two other fires continue to rage in Cottonwood, Lincoln County, and in the Nebraska National Forest south of Halsey and Dunning.
Officials said they are investigating if the latter was caused by a federally-authorized burn that can be used as a tactic to control wildfire spread and has now been banned in the area until at least March 27.
A fourth fire is raging in Anderson Bridge, west of Valentine.
Mass evacuations have taken place and are underway in the worst-affected areas.
Rose is currently the only reported fatality.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to be able to bring this under control,” warned senator Pete Ricketts as officials throw all the resources they have at the fires and declare a state of emergency.
“If we have a whole bunch of trucks come from Omaha and we don’t use them, thank God,” Pillen said.
“But we’re going to make sure we don’t wake up with any shoulda, coulda, woulda. We’re not sparing a penny.”
Meanwhile, 245 active wildfires spanning 547,000 acres are burning across the country, including in California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Florida.
