“We stayed packed and ready”: Cozad families prepare to evacuate as wildfire moves closer

COZAD, Neb. — As wildfires continue to burn across Nebraska, many residents near Cozad spent last week preparing to evacuate while watching smoke move closer and closer to home.

A local High School teacher said she first noticed something unusual while driving home Thursday evenin

“What I thought was dust in the sky turned out to be smoke,” said Rossell. “As we got closer to our home south of Gothenburg, we could tell the fire was coming through from over by Brady and Maxwell.”

Shortly after, evacuation alerts began coming in.

Law enforcement went door-to-door warning residents and urging them to begin packing in case they needed to leave quickly.

Rossell and her family stayed at their home but remained on standby as the fire moved closer.

“The closest it got was about a mile, a mile and a half,” she said. “We stayed packed and ready to go since Thursday night and kind of lived out of our cars.”

Rossell said the experience was overwhelming, especially when trying to quickly decide what belongings to take.

“You try to plan for these things, but when it actually happens and you’re on a time crunch with all the emotions, it’s overwhelming,” she said.

At Cozad Community Schools, administrators were also preparing in case the fires forced evacuations in the area.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Endorf said school leaders coordinated with local emergency management Thursday night to develop a response plan.

“We made the whole high school available for our community if the request was made by our emergency manager,” said Endorf.

The school has another meeting Monday reaffirming it could serve as a temporary shelter if needed, using its gymnasiums and commons areas to house residents while providing food, water, and other basic necessities.

Zoeller said the fires affected nearly everyone in the community in some way.

“Everybody was directly or indirectly affected by this fire,” he said. 

Rossell said the situation has also highlighted the strength of rural communities despite the stress and uncertainty about the situation.

“Farmers were out with discs, helping move animals, pulling out trailers from everywhere,” she said. “Small communities just come together to help however they can.”

For now, Rossell and her family plan to remain at home while continuing to monitor weather and emergency alerts, hoping the worst of the fires has passed.