Family displaced in early morning fire 

Brendal’s Restaurant in Bayard accepting donations

February 18, 2026Updated: February 18, 2026
Forrest HershbergerBy Forrest Hershberger

BAYARD, Neb. -- A Bayard family escaped injuries when they were awakened to their home on fire Wednesday. 

Santos Garza said the fire started at about 2 or 2:30 a.m.  

“My wife woke me up, and the house was full of smoke. I ran to check my heater; thought it was maybe my heater. My heater was running fine; everything was fine there. She yelled at me, told me it was in the bathroom,” Garza said. 

He said they filled buckets of water to extinguish the fire. 

“We tried to pour it onto, into the bathroom and, didn’t do anything, so immediately after that we started getting our kids and everybody, and we got out, our animals and called the fire department and the fire department came and put the fire out," he said. 

By mid-morning, friends and family were busy salvaging the contents of the house. 

“They all heard about it and they came and showed their support and, very, very thankful for everyone that helped with this; the firefighters and everybody that lent a hand and I thank everybody that’s trying to help us,” he said. 

The Firefighter Ministry is assisting the family. Brendal’s Restaurant in Bayard has agreed to be a drop-off for the following items only: 

*Formula - Simalac 360 total comfort (orange can) 

*4T pull-ups 

*size 5 diapers 

*size 7/8 both boys and girls 

*size 5T girls 

*size 12-18 month girls 

*mom is short; wears mostly sweats size 1x -2x 

*male also size 1x to 2x 

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