Butler County thanking volunteer firefighters who stopped massive wildfire

DAVID CITY, Neb. (KLKN) – Locals are hoping to fill the Butler County Event Center on Wednesday to support volunteer fire departments.

The effort comes after seven Butler County fire departments extinguished a wildfire that spread across 750 acres outside of David City last month.

Pam Siroky, the organizer of the event, said the fundraiser is a great way to thank the 140 volunteers who helped put out the fire.

She said volunteer firefighters sacrifice their time to keep people safe.

“You’re sitting at the dinner table, and the whistle blows, and you know somebody’s going out for a call,” she said. “And you stay sitting at the table, or you don’t get out of bed at night because the whistle blows, and you are relying on those volunteers.”

Matt Hilger, assistant chief at the David City Fire Department, said seven volunteer departments from the county showed up to help on Oct. 17, and another was on standby.

“For something large: car accidents, structure fires, field fires like this, it’s a pretty immediate system,” he said. ” We start asking for help pretty quickly.”

He said on a day like that, he “couldn’t have too much help.”

“Because the kind of day it was, it didn’t matter where it started in Butler County,” he said. “You knew that everyone was going to be involved at some point.”

Thinking about that day keeps Hilger up at night because he can’t believe no one was hurt.

Winds were blowing upward of 40 mph, and dry conditions didn’t help.

“So you knew it was going to be intense, pretty fast-moving,” Hilger said.

Siroky said the donations from the fundraiser will be split evenly among the eight departments in the county.

“It can be to update equipment, purchase equipment, whatever each individual department needs,” she said. “That’s what these funds will be used for.”

Hilger thinks his department only had one hose line damaged while fighting the flames, though it’s possible there was more damage.

“We were going through some rougher terrain and stuff like that, trying to get ahead of it or keep up with it,” he said.

Siroky is encouraging the community to show appreciation for the volunteers who helped keep the county safe.

There will be a live auction and a free meal for those who attend.

The fundraiser is Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m., and everyone is welcome to join.

“It will be a great day to, again, enjoy visiting with all the firemen, celebrating everything they do for us and saying thank you,” Siroky said.