Firefighters responded to a grass fire south of Hwy 30 at Hwy 61.

Instead of blasting their sirens to the delight of children on the streets at a parade, firefighters from Ogallala in addition to 13 other departments were doing what has become all to familiar this summer, fighting fire.

"This one was able to be put out fairly quick, but it took a lot of effort from a lot of people," said Tom Pore of the Elsie Volunteer Fire Department.

A hot wheel bearing on a trailer started the blaze that destroyed an estimated 6,700 acres shortly after two o'clock Sunday afternoon.

"Whenever we get called out to a grass fire, we go and size up the situation. The situation seemed larger than one fire department could handle and we activated our southwest mutual aid fire district," said Ken Knoepfel, the Ogallala Fire Department Public Information Officer.

Knoepfel acknowledges a hot wheel bearing has been attributed to two fires in Keith County this year and realizes the quick response by all departments.

"What we have in place really works well and we just don't try to fix something that works well for us," said Knoepfel.

"Well, it's just a group effort, we all count on each other, I mean there's been a lot of fires this year with it being so dry and we just count on each other and everybody pulls together and works together pretty hard to get these fires put out as quick as we can so, that we don't have bigger problems," said Pore.

Coordination efforts also help to end fires before they have the chance to get out of hand.

"Well, in this size of fire we just simply get all the resources to one location and then further dispatch 'em from that one centralized location," said Dan Softley with the Grant Fire Department.

According to officials, the fire is under control for these crews, but they will sit out on location trying to spot any flare ups in case they happen.