Fire Chief Darren Krull, 54, was killed and the driver of the vehicle he was in was hospitalized when their vehicle was struck by a tanker during wildland firefighting operations.
Krull died Thursday when the Ford Expedition he was a passenger in was struck head-on by a water tanker according to a press release by the Nebraska State Patrol.
Phelps County Emergency Manager Justin Norris, who was the driver of the vehicle Krull was in, was transported to CHI Health Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney and later to a hospital on Omaha where he is in stable condition, according to the Kearney Hub.
According to the press release, the fire and smoke in the area had created zero-visibility conditions on the roadway at the time of the crash.
The driver of the tanker truck was not injured in the crash.
