Firefighters returned Wednesday morning to the fire lines of what’s now being called the Schiff Fire, the large grassland blaze in an area of rolling hills west-southwest of Alliance that started Tuesday morning.
Through a post on the Alliance Fire Department Facebook page, Fire Chief Troy Shoemaker says after the majority of crews had been released very late Tuesday night, several were called back to the scene Wednesday morning shortly after 9:30 a.m. as wind re-ignited smoldering embers.
Shoemaker says many of the assets that had been called in to assist in the Tuesday firefight were called again for mutual aid to knock down the flames once more, including the aerial applicator plane out of Grant that made water drops, and has since been released.
He says crews have been mapping the fire as well Wednesday, and the burn area covered an estimated 8,600 acres. No details were immediately available on whether any structures or livestock had been lost since the fire started near County Road 82 and Perkins Road in Box Butte County Tuesday, eventually spreading into northwestern Morrill County.
