Lightning sparks five fires

County firefighters found themselves stretched in several directions over the weekend when lightning strikes caused five individual fires to spark at the same time. Fortunately, only one of the five grew to a significant size: the Seely Fire, located around ten miles northwest of Hulett.

“It’s 425 acres and we’ll be several days getting it cleaned up,” said Doug Leis, County Fire Warden, on Monday morning.

Of the five fires, this one grew so large due to the terrain, he explains. It did not threaten any structures, aside from an old homestead, but firefighters were able to cut the fire off bef...