As far as the eye can see across the Nebraska Sandhills of Morrill, Garden, Arthur, Keith and Grant counties, wildfire has rendered the landscape unrecognizable, unfamiliar, barren and bleak. Blowing ash and sand fill the skies and shift the contours of hills. Charred remains of life are stark reminders of just how quickly things can change. But also remaining are Sandhills ranch families who have called the area home for generations. Their ancestors faced impossible odds, survived and thrived. So will they. “It takes a special kind,” said Levi Rauch, who ranches north of Oshkosh. “The pioneers were tough people. They were going to make it, no matter what. That’s how everybody feels with this fire. We are going to make it.” Red Flag conditions spawned the monster Morrill Fire and others on March 12, 2026. Winds of 60-70 miles per hour fanned flames into a firestorm described by volunteer firefighters and ranchers as “Armageddon” and “apocalyptic.” In the aftermath, the full impact of these wildfires is yet to be tallied. “It was just rolling walls of fire,” said Casper Corfield, who lives 10 miles north of Oshkosh. “I have never seen a sky full of dirt and fire; it was like watching a fog rolling in, but it was sand and fire.” Visibility was 10 feet or less at times due to the smoke and blowing ash and dust. 86-year-old Rose White of Arthur, Nebraska, lost her life in the Morrill Fire. “I have lived here my whole life and it was hard to get my bearings. I can’t believe we didn’t lose more ranchers, firefighters, or people trying to evacuate. That was all pure luck or grace.” With the high winds driving the fire, Corfield said it was “unreal how fast it could move. “Even if firefighters got there, even on plumb flat farm ground there was no way they could stop it. And most of this country is only accessible horseback or maybe with a our-wheeler. They tried to get trucks in but there was no way to fight it. Hell, they couldn’t even catch it.” Corfield spent the night of March 12 out fighting fire with other ranchers and volunteer fire department crews.
The Morrill Fire burned 643,074 acres. The Cottonwood Fire burned 128,036 acres in Lincoln, Dawson and Frontier counties. The Road 203 Fire burned 35,916 acres in Thomas and Blaine counties in central Nebraska, and the Anderson Bridge Fire burned 17,400 acres in Cherry County west of Valentine. Two more fires roared through Grant County on March 26; the Ashby Fire covered 36,004 acres and the Minor Fire burned 14,082 acres. Red Flag conditions persist, and ranchers are on high alert for further wildfire activity.
“People were to the point they were almost visibly ill, fearing they lost everything,” he said. “When daylight came, we were still fighting fire, but people started finding more cattle alive and unharmed than they thought possible. We expected to have mass devastation, but it wasn’t quite as bad as we feared.” - Casper Corfield
Levi Rauch runs Blue Creek Ranch for Lone Creek Cattle Company. Rauch and a neighbor were fighting fire together. “It was like an apocalypse. There was fire everywhere you could see. It was crazy. If it wouldn’t have been for our local volunteer fire departments I probably wouldn’t be talking to you,” he said. One of the worst parts was not knowing whether his neighbor’s cattle had perished. “What do you say? You know it might not be as bad as you think, but you had a terrible gut feeling. It was like Armageddon.” Somehow, his neighbor’s cows survived. Rauch expressed his gratitude to everyone involved in the firefighting efforts. “If we didn’t have neighbors, friends and our community, we might have been in a lot worse shape,” he said. “It is pretty amazing to watch everyone come together in a split second.” Jim Rice ranches northeast of Oshkosh on the Grant County line. He and other firefighters all said the same thing: they had never seen a fire change direction so many times. “It was so sporadic and so unpredictable,” he said. “The sheer speed of this fire was breathtaking.” The “perfect storm” of conditions combined to create the largest wildfire on record in the state. “Humidity levels were low, our grass was extremely dry and the wind was ferocious. It was just an awful, awful thing. It was pretty hair raising,” Rice said. Hay donations are rolling in. Those impacted are grateful for the support coming from the ag community. Some ranchers are shipping cattle out, many are looking for grass. Rice believes restoration will come in time. He has seen the Sandhills recover from fire before and this gives him hope. “These hills will recover if they get rain. That’s what I’m holding on to,” he said.
Ruth Wiechmann writes from the ranch in western South Dakota. She considers herself blessed to have spent her lifetime close to the land, from growing up on the family farm to raising cattle and quarter horses. She believes it is an honor and privilege to get to share the stories of the people and places of agriculture as part of the Tri-State Livestock News editorial team.