BEATRICE – A burn pile that rekindled started a small grass fire at a residence just south of Beatrice, Sunday afternoon.

Beatrice Rural Firefighters were sent to a property a short distance south of U.S. Highway 77 and Locust Road.  Beatrice Rural Fire Chief Matt Langley said a property owner had a burn pile from a couple of weeks ago, that had rekindled on a concrete pad with a wall on one side. Some of the burning material jumped from the site, setting some nearby grass on fire, with flames reaching into a few trees.

Langley says the fire was extinguished in about 20-to-30 minutes….and the property owner was advised to water down the burn pile. Firefighters were dispatched at 5:13 p.m. 

This week, conditions remain very dry across Nebraska.  The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch for Tuesday that includes northeast, north-central and western Nebraska and western Iowa.

At this time, the watch does not include the southeast area and a small part of east-central Nebraska, including Beatrice, Omaha, Lincoln, Nebraska City and Falls City.