WATCH: Grass fire blazes south of Stanton and Pilger on Sunday

STANTON — For the third time in four days, a large fire struck northeast Nebraska. A grass fire blazed south of Stanton and Pilger on Sunday, near the intersection of Highways 15 and 32. A grass fire lit up the Friday evening sky just outside of Norfolk, while a Norfolk house fire caused $175,000 in damage on Thursday.

Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger said the call came in at 12:52 p.m. Sunday for the fire, with firefighters from six departments and farmers using discs and emergency workers using bulldozers to contain it. It was under control some time before 3:00 p.m., he said.

Unger said when firefighters arrived, the fire was at about 829th Avenue and 570th Road. The Clarkson Volunteer Fire Department was first on the scene.

The fire then spread to between parts of 831st and 832nd avenues and 569th and 570th roads.

Soon thereafter, firefighters from Howells, Leigh, Stanton, Madison and Pilger answered a mutual aid call, along with emergency management and the sheriff’s office.

Four or five residences were evacuated as a precaution, but no homesteads burned.

Farmers helped by discing unharvested corn, along with emergency workers using bulldozers to try and get ahead of the fire and create a buffer from the flammable crops.

The National Weather Service indicated that winds were blowing out of the south at 27 mph on Sunday afternoon. Some gusts were higher.