Gering, NE

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Western Nebraska firefighters battling four wildfires south of Gering

About a dozen fire departments in western Nebraska continued battling four wildfires Sunday south of Gering in the Cedar Canyon Wildlife Management Area. Region 21 Emergency Management Director Tim Newman told the Scottsbluff Star-Herald that the wildfires began Saturday in four separate sites. A cause has not yet been determined, he said, but it's thought that lightning could have started the flames because of the number or ignition points and the distance between them. The Nebraska State Patrol advised people to stay away from the area. Cody Thomas, a spokesman for the state patrol, said Sunday that troopers are assisting by blocking off roads into the area.

"There have been some evacuations but the fires are mostly in canyon areas," Thomas said. According to the Region 21 Emergency Management Facebook page firefighters from Gering, Scottsbluff, Minatare-Melbeta, Lyman, Banner, Bayard, Bridgeport, Sidney, Potter, Bushnell and Dix responded to the emergency.

Authorities advised people stay away from Carter Canyon south of Gering Saturday due to a wildfire that had four separate start sites.(News Channel Nebraska)

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Firefighters make progress on large wildlife south of Gering, Nebraska

Firefighters made progress Monday in battling a large wildfire south of Gering that has destroyed three homes, damaged seven others and spread across nearly 24 square miles. “We’ve been able to get around it and hold it to its footprint today,” said Ben Bohall of the Nebraska Forest Service. “We thought the wind would be more of an issue today, but it has not been.” “We’re optimistic,” Bohall added. “We feel like we have a hold on it right now.”

Lightning strike

The Carter Canyon Fire was sparked by a lightning strike Saturday evening in a state wildlife area in the rugged Wildcat Hills south of Gering. The lightning strike, and rising smoke, was seen by a medical helicopter flying in the area, Bohall said, which reported the fire about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Approximately 200 firefighters from 35 agencies and volunteer departments from as far as Wyoming and South Dakota were battling the blaze, he said, along with a Blackhawk helicopter, three large tanker planes and two single-engine tankers. The fire, covering 15,591 acres, was listed as 33% contained as of Monday afternoon. Temperatures were reported near 100 degrees, with winds of 8 mph.



A wildfire south of Gering had consumed nearly 24 square miles in the Wildcat Hills as of Monday afternoon. (Courtesy Nebraska Forest Service)

‘Crazy’ fire season started early

The blaze started in the Cedar Canyon State Wildlife Management Area south of Gering and then spread into the adjacent Carter Canyon. Several residences were evacuated, as well as livestock in the area. Bohall said 2022 has been a “crazy” fire season, with a wildfire in southwest Nebraska, the Road 702 Fire, consuming more than 40,000 acres in AprI’ll.

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Western Nebraska wildfire prompts evacuations, burns homes

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Over 15K acres burn in Carter Canyon due to lightning

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Japanese Hall grand opening set for June



GERING, Neb. (KOLN) - A small building on the grounds of the Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering tells a big story about Nebraska’s Japanese settlers. The grand opening is set for June 8.

We caught up with Vickie Sakurada Schaepler to talk about the progress being made on this fascinating museum. She is the Japanese Hall and History Project Coordinator for the Legacy of the Plains Museum. The building once sat at 1705 Avenue C in downtown Scottsbluff. It was a gathering spot for many Japanese Americans through the years who came to the U.S. from Japan to work on the construction of the railroad, or in the sugar beet industry. “I attended an event in Scottsbluff and found out this building might be demolished,” Sakurada Schaepler said. “On the wall were pictures of my grandparents and many Japanese in the area. We wanted to preserve it. We got an agreement from Legacy of the Plains to bring the building to this spot so that it would not be demolished. Our goal is to tell the Japanese immigrant story here in Nebraska.”

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‘They had lost everything’:
Nebraska museum tells stories of Japanese-Americans during dark chapter

GERING – Chadron rancher Sharon Hagihara Bartlett walked the nearly empty, grass-covered grounds of the Amache National Historic Site in southeast Colorado and thought about her mother, her aunt, her grandmother. “I’d never been there,” she said about Amache, one of 10 “relocation centers” where the U.S. government imprisoned thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II. “They had torn down or sold all the buildings because it was an embarrassment to the U.S. government and what they had done.” As Bartlett wandered by concrete foundations and a few reconstructed structures last May, her thoughts flowed like a conversation with her ancestors. “Oh my God, here were all these people in this one building with one potbelly stove. And going outside in the cold to the dining hall and showers,” she said. “It hurts to think you put up with so much. You had to leave your home and all your stuff in California. And there was nothing to go back to.” Her’s is one of many family stories told in the Japanese Hall building, formerly in Scottsbluff, that’s opening soon at Gering’s Legacy of the Plains Museum campus.

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Farmstead house in Gering shares story of life on the high plains



GERING, Neb. (KOLN) - The next time you are in Gering, you’ll want to take a tour of the Wiedeman House, and get a taste of farm life in Nebraska’s Panhandle. We talked with Susan Wiedeman about the house that now sits on the grounds of the Legacy of the Plains Museum. “My grandfather built this house, and it was right on the edge of Gering,” Wiedeman said. “He bought the farm in 1926. He was an immigrant from Russia, and he came to the U.S. through Canada. He built the barn first because the horses did a lot of the work then, so they were important. The family lived in the hay loft. They family stayed there for about 6 months until the house was completed.”

When the house was built, it had all of the modern conveniences for its time. “The kitchen is originally in the basement of this house,” Wiedeman said. “It was built that way intentionally. You did a lot of cooking, and that was the coolest part of the house. The kitchen countertop is not even three feet high. My grandmother was only 5 feet tall, so it was custom-built for her. In the 1930′s, they had indoor plumbing, because they had their own septic system. They were on electricity from the city of Gering. They had telephone service, and again it was all because of the proximity to the city of Gering.”

When you visit the house, you will see that the downstairs still showcases the 1930′s era. But the upstairs is where the updates were made, so the interior design is in a 1950′s style. Many family members of the Wiedemans lived in the house over the years. Eventually, a healthcare business wanted to build a new facility where the farmstead was located. In exchange for selling the land, Heritage Healthcare donated the farmstead buildings. The Legacy of the Plains Museum helped move all of the buildings to the museum grounds. “My aunt Ruth, who lives in Denver, helped underwrite much of the cost of that,” Wiedeman said. Now the house is on display for the public to enjoy at the Legacy of the Plains

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Gering working on plans for ADA, other upgrades to Five Rocks Amphitheater

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Grand Opening of the Japanese Hall
set for Saturday at Legacy of Plains Museum



Since 2015, the Japanese Hall and History Project, with Legacy of the Plains has planned, relocated and renovated the hall and exhibits including a look at the early Issei migration to the U.S. and to the High Plains; their livelihoods in business and agriculture; coping with racism and prejudice; experiences during WWII and other military operations; cultural, artistic and athletic activities; the current and future state of Japanese Americans in the High Plains. Most items in the exhibits have been donated to the museum by families. These items include heirloom dolls, clothing, dinnerware, books, paper goods, and photographs.

For more information, please contact the museum at (308) 436-1989 or visit our website at Legacy of the Plains