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Seward County officials review multi-county wildfire response; no injuries reported
Summary
At a March 2026 Seward County work session, fire, sheriff, health and road-and-bridge officials reviewed the Andrew Lane / River Fire response, reported extensive mutual-aid, lengthy on-scene hours and no injuries, and identified communication and EOC gaps for follow-up.
Seward County officials on the March 2026 work session laid out a multi-agency response to the Andrew Lane (River) Fire and related blazes that swept across parts of the county, saying mutual aid helped prevent greater structural losses and that no county residents or responders were injured.
Interim Fire Chief Braden Steckle described a day in which multiple fires pulled resources across jurisdictions. He said Seward County units were paged to a Tyrone fire about 13:32, later located a separate fire in the southwest corner of the county near Road B and south of Road 3, and that the Andrew Lane (River) Fire was paged at about 15:51. “We spent 76 hours and 26 minutes on the Andrew Lane Fire,” Steckle said, summarizing the department’s total commitment; he said Seward County’s crews were on that scene for roughly 40 hours and 30 minutes total and some firefighters were active for more than 39 hours without sleep.
Sheriff Gene Ward recounted evacuation work in the river bottom and said deputies made contact attempts at roughly 29 homes and at a nearby RV park. Ward credited off‑duty deputy Clemente Torres with alerting and evacuating the Thorpe family farm just minutes before the fire reached their property, calling Torres’ actions “reflective of the highest standards of our service, dedication and community commitment.”
Hospital and public-health officials said the smoke disrupted operations: Greg Freelove of Southwest Medical Center said the hospital postponed surgeries because of smoke infiltration, and the health department representative reported that a shelter opened at about 16:11 and closed around 19:00 with no attendees. The public-health speaker recommended planning for centrally located shelter sites, HEPA filtration, and pet accommodations for future incidents.
Mutual-aid partners and county road-and-bridge crews supplied blades, dozers and tankers, and some local farmers provided tractors and discs to help contain the fire. Mark Johnson of Road and Bridge said crews worked long rotations—reporting up to 48 straight hours for some personnel—and that radio reception in the river bottom sometimes delayed responses.
Despite equipment damage described as repairable, officials emphasized the positive outcome: no reported injuries or deaths in Seward County and several structures saved. County staff said they will compile incident reports and reduce common suggestions to an actionable list for follow-up.
The work session ended with commissioners agreeing to collect written after-action reports and to pursue improvements identified during the briefing.
