When I headed home on Thursday afternoon, I thought that the focus of this week's column would be the budget battle taking place in Lincoln. That’s what I was prepared to write about. Somewhere between Broken Bow and Dunning late Thursday afternoon, the focus for not just myself but thousands of other Nebraskans changed.

Fires began to break out across the state, the largest being in western Nebraska. Leaving Broken Bow, there appeared to be a huge dust storm from the straight line winds blowing off of fields to the west, but the closer I got, it became very clear that it was smoke. I quickly learned that a wildfire had broken out in the Halsey Forest and was spreading quickly.

Within the next few hours, news of three other fires came. The Anderson Bridge fire in Cherry County, the Morrill fire which started in Morrill County and quickly swept across Garden County and reached Arthur and Keith counties by the next day. The last being the Cottonwood fire near Gothenburg. As of the writing of this column, it is estimated that somewhere near 800,000 acres total has burned in those four fires, the largest being the Morrill fire consuming well over 500,000 acres of grazing land and taking with it some structures, untold miles of fence, yet unreported numbers of livestock/wildlife and the precious life of a grandmother and Sandhiller adored by her family and her community. May God’s grace be with them.

I want to pay tribute to the thousands of volunteers who have answered the call.

Firefighters, EMTs, people to organize supplies, answer phones, make and deliver food, transport displaced livestock, open up their homes, take in animals, deliver feed….the list goes on.

You inspire me and you remind us all what makes this such a special place.

You remind us of what built these communities.

Hard work, neighbors helping neighbors, selflessness and sheer determination. Thank you.

I also want to provide some information for both those who’ve endured a loss and those who want to help/donate.

If you have suffered excessive livestock death losses and grazing or feed losses due to the wildfire, you may be eligible for disaster assistance programs through the Farm Service Agency. The two primary programs are the Livestock Indemnity Program and the ELAP program. Please be sure to take pictures of and document losses and contact your local FSA office for assistance.

For those wishing to donate either monetarily or otherwise, there is the Nebraska Sandhills Rancher Fire Relief fund. You can find them on Facebook or call them at 970-380-4371. In addition, the Nebraska Weather & Disaster Relief Alert has teamed up with Ogallala Ag Supply and Ogallala Livestock Auction Market to coordinate hay, livestock supplies and fencing needs. You can donate in person at either location or online at butter.com/Nebraska-rises. The Nebraska Cattlemen also have a fund to accept donations which can be found on their website, www.nebraskacattlemen. org/disaster-relief-fund.

Lastly, please consider making donations to your local fire departments whose resources were likely depleted over the last several days, keeping in mind that even if one of these fires didn’t directly impact your community, your fire department very likely sent help. The list of departments that provided mutual aid is too long to list here.

Again, thank you, God bless you and remember, we are #NebraskaStrong and #SandhillsStrong.

Respectfully, Senator Tanya Storer