Fire Near Smiley Canyon Listed At 30 Acres

     The Roadrunner Fire on Nebraska Game and Parks land near Smiley Canyon burned 30.2-acres last night and remains listed with no containment although dozer lines have been established around most of it.

     Crawford Fire Chief Brian Prosser says the initial call came in around 2:30 yesterday afternoon with Crawford, Game and Parks, and U-S Forest Service crews all responding. 

     Game and Parks monitored the fire overnight with Crawford and Forest Service crews, including a hand crew from the Pine Ridge Job Corps Center, returning this morning at 6:00.

    Meanwhile, demobilization is continuing on the Natick Fire near Halsey in the Nebraska National Forest, listed as 80% contained at 1:00 yesterday afternoon. Fire personnel were successful in mapping the burned area Friday, dropping the size from 2,500 acres to 1,849.

     Almost an inch of rain significantly aided firefighters overnight Friday and allowed the incident commander to release all but 30 personnel at 8:00 yesterday.

    Yesterday’s efforts focused on reinforcing established control lines and on any spots that continued to stay hot even after the late-night rain. The fire’s cause has still not been determined, but there is an investigator onsite.