County resident organizes fire relief effort
Staff writer
The largest wildfire in Kansas history swept through parts of western Kansas last week, and many Kansans, including right here at home, are responding to help those who lost homes, fences, and barns along with cattle.
Nathan Fish of Hillsboro has spearheaded an effort to deliver supplies to ranchers in the Ashland area.
For Fish, this is a personal mission.
“I have close friends who lost everything except their house,” he said.
Fish’s employer, Cooperative Grain and Supply, contributed barbed wire and steel fence posts, Countryside Feed donated milk replacer for orphaned calves, and Jost Fabrication supplied fence posts. Other businesses and individuals provided cash or purchased products, including veterinary supplies, to make a full semi-load.
Fish, his father, Bill, and John Christiansen delivered the supplies on Saturday.
“It looked bad out there,” he said. “Blackened prairie as far as the eye could see. We heard gun shots all day long as ranchers put down injured cattle.”
Chad Enns delivered a truckload of hay contributed by local farmers.
Fish plans to make more trips soon. He seeks supplies and volunteers for work crews that would rebuild fences. He can be contacted at (620) 877-0986.