SIDNEY – Fire destroyed a rural Sidney residence Thursday morning.

Assistant Fire Chief Dustin Sheldon said flames and smoke were visible from 290th Avenue east of town when a caller alerted the Sidney Fire Department.

 There was a fully-involved, working fire when firefighters arrived.

Sheldon: “We made an initial attack, kind of a defensive attack on the fire, because it was through the roof. We didn’t have enough personnel on the initial response to do a safe, internal attack.”

 

Firefighters, which included units from Hamburg, Tabor, Riverton Rescue, Nebraska City, Randolph and Shenandoah, hauled water from a city hydrant about a half mile away.

Sheldon: “Once other personnel started coming in from other departments, we changed our tactics, but we were never able to go offensive on it, we had to go defensive the whole time.”

Online records say  Travis Rasmussen purchased the property in 2016. He was not at home at the time of the fire.

Sheldon said the American Red Cross was contacted for assistance to the home owner.