Circle L battles ‘the beast’ head-on

(Photos courtesy of Naomis Loomis)

BROADWATER – When the wind is blowing at an estimated 70-80 mph, 10 miles is barely a warning, and that is what some ranchers in north Morrill County experienced last week. 

On Thursday afternoon, a fire ignited the prairie when a pole was blown over east of Angora.  

The fire consumed nearly everything in its path and threatened the Circle L Ranch. Naomi Loomis and her husband own the ranch. They also own the feed store in Bridgeport and are parents of four children; two in high school and two grown.  

“We are on the very front of the fire, so we would be about 10-15 miles away from the actual fire start. Our ranch is located about 17 miles north of Broadwater. The fire actually hit us fairly quickly, just because of how the wind was blowing,” Loomis said. 

She learned about the fire when her oldest son’s co-worker, a firefighter, got a page of a fire north of Broadwater. A fire was then identified on what is known as the Dove Ranch. 

“My husband and my son decided that they would meet at the Dove Ranch to try to help everybody get this fire out. And then they had also called me and said, ‘mom you should probably head home,’” she said. 

She got her kids out of school and headed north. She was stopped just a few miles from their home. She was at the south side of the fire as her husband and oldest son were at the north side.  

“We ended up just hanging out on the south side of the fire for ... I mean, it feels like forever, but I know it wasn’t ... and help the neighbors save some of his cows out of the way of the fire. And then my son and my husband were on the north side of the fire. But when they could tell that the fire was going faster than, you know like, the fire would be hitting our place faster, that’s how the wind was blowing; they drove through the fire actually, to get to our place. And at that time, the fire had already gone through our place. All our trees were on fire, all our corrals were on fire,” she said. 

She calls the fire “The Beast” because of its ferocity; the burning tumbleweeds blowing past her and the trees burning at the top and not the bottom. The fire was not just a potential loss of property and livestock; it was a wide range of emotions. 

“To be honest with you, there was just a lot of emotions. There was also a lot of emotion because when we ... you know, our house and our barns are safe, but then like our corrals and our animals, they were in trouble. So, its also a lot like we’re giving God the glory that he left us with our own beds, and that he saved us. That means there’s no other person here that could have done that,” she said. 

She estimates they lost about 10 head of baby calves, and several cows with “burned bags,” udders injured by the fire. 

She said they are blessed by the support network of rural life, and the faith that God is in control.