Some of you have probably heard about the wildfire that hit Valentine yesterday. Last I heard, they are still battling the fire, but it is pretty much under control.

Jeff Spain wrestled for Valentine High then wrestled for UNO in the 1980s. His son Matt has been a good upper weight wrestler for Valentine the past two years. Jeff had his house destroyed by the fire. Looks like it was a complete and total loss from what I heard and the pictures I saw.

Keep the entire community of Valentine in your prayers as well...just thankful that wildfire didn't take out the entire town from what I've seen in news reports.

The fires were in the valleys north of the town, and the wind was blowing about 20 miles an hour out of the north. The pine trees were so dry they were literally exploding. Early last night, they were saying that if they didn't get the fire under control by dark, they might lose half the town. They brought in some dumper planes from Denver and Rapid City. It sounds like those planes helped turn the tide. Latest I heard was that a total of 12 homes were destroyed.

On a similar note, it is so dry around here, and is expected to be over 100 through Thursday. I wouldn't be surprised if you hear of a few more popping up in the next few days.

Speaking of popping...I'll bring a couple of sacks of microwave popcorn over, Lance -- sit it out on the patio for about 45 minutes and watch it go...anything to pass the time during a long, hot summer.

Mikey, it was "only" 95 today and felt downright September-like compared to the past few days. Tuesday is going to be a different story though...back up over 100.

Saw a TV interview on WOWT last night with Matt Spain. He was standing in front of (what used to be) his house. Only thing standing was a stone chimney. The footage of the fires was really horrific.

For anyone interested, there is a photo album of the fire here:

HeartCity.com

Got some pictures in an e-mail from one of our loyal Huskermatters.

Along with a link to some pics on chadrad.com



WOW!!!

That first picture is a keeper...wow!

Agreed about the first pic, NWI. If you've been to Valentine, you can appreciate how bad that one looks.

By the way, some people I know who were fighting the fire the other day told me they will get likely called back Wed. morning because they are pretty sure some hot spots are getting ready to flare up again.

Got these pics of a fire in Northcentral Wyoming.