There's been a break in the heat in western Nebraska and the winds are cooperating with firefighters battling several wildfires.
The areas of concern still remain in the northwest corner of the state.
Three fires are burning near Chadron, another remains out of control near Harrison.
A cold front has passed through the panhandle and temperatures have fallen off to the 80s.
Winds have also shifted to the northwest, which will push the flames back over areas that have already burned. But those winds are gusting to 35 mph.
Part of the effort in fighting the wildfires is actually going on in an underground location -- nearly 500 miles from the burn zone.
NewsWatch 7 got a behind-the-scenes look into the emergency operations center in Lincoln.
It's called the bunker, and it's activated anytime the state is in an emergency. Wildfires raging across the panhandle fueled the latest call.
"We react to what they need and as they identify what they need, they get a hold of us, and we find that resource and get it up there as soon as possible," said Nebraska Emergency Management's Cindy Newsham.
On Monday morning, the tasking was to finding more helicopters from neighboring states and more water tankers, and 50 additional National Guard soldiers left Lincoln to battle the blaze.
"The key is to prevent this from burning into developed property, where we impact lives and cause evacuations," said David Teska of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
There's no estimate on how much it could cost to fight the fires. FEMA officials said the federal government will help pay 75 percent and that state and local agencies will have to pay for the rest.
"Costs are secondary. We're talking about lives of Nebraskans. We're talking about their livelihood. We're talking about their ability to take care of their families. That has to be our priority," said Gov. Dave Heineman.
Heineman returned to the Pine Ridge Area on Sunday and got a close view of the fire threatening Harrison.
"It's so huge, it's exploding and it's just jumping over these firewalls as they're setting them up," Heineman said.
As long as the fires continue to rage out of control, the emergency center plans to continue its operations.
The governor said that his office has received a number of calls from people wanting help.
He said the best thing to do is to donate money.
Funds have been set up to help local agencies fight the blaze and any victims of the wildfires.
Web site
Dawes-Sioux Fire Fund Information
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