Car crash causes fire in Logan County on Wednesday afternoon - Crews from Colorado & Nebraska respond

In a press release from the Logan County Office of Emergency Management from Wednesday afternoon stated that more than a dozen fire departments from Colorado and Nebraska were performing mop-up operations on a 3,500-4,000-acre fire that occurred on Wednesday afternoon in central Logan County in northeast Colorado.

The posting went on to say that the fire was ignited by a motor vehicle accident in the location of Highway 113 and Logan County Road 66 at approximately 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday. The area is mainly grassland and rough terrain. At the time, sustained winds were reported by the National Weather Service at 25-30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph.

An evacuation order was announced for the rural area of County Road 66 South to Highway 138 and Highway 113 East to County Road 65, including Caliche School and the town of Padroni. Those orders were lifted at approximately 4:25 pm.

The Sterling Fire Department issued several postings throughout the afternoon updating the situation. According to Sterling Fire Chief Lavon Ritter, the fire was 80% contained at 4:26 pm.

There are no reported structure losses or injuries, including no livestock lost.

Along with the various mutual aid departments and law enforcement agencies, assisting with the incident were Department of Public Safety Division of Fire Protection and Control and Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Colorado State Patrol, Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Logan County Road & Bridge, air operations with two air tankers, as well as several farmers with tractors and disc apparatus.