On the night of December 17, 2025, three wildfires burned across Yuma County on Colorado's Eastern Plains, pushed by 70 mph winds. More than a dozen farmers climbed into tractors and drove toward the flames to cut firelines before the fire reached their neighbors.

Asked to Be Ready

Earlier that day, county officials braced for the windy forecast and asked farmers with tractors and discs to be ready if fires sparked. Discs and tillage tools are heavy implements that break up soil and chop up vegetation.

Months of unusual summer rain had left weeds more than 5 feet tall. They dried out in the heat, and the land had not seen measurable moisture since October.

One Rancher, One Till

Clarence Young is a cattle rancher and corn farmer with no firefighting experience. When evacuation orders spread, he hooked a 30-foot vertical till to his John Deere tractor and headed toward the glow on the horizon.

He plowed strips of land at an angle to the approaching flames, burying smoldering soapweed and stripping the fire of fuel. By 10 p.m. the County Road 33 fire was spreading fast south of Eckley. Smoke and dirt were so thick he could barely see, so he steered by the flashing lights of nearby fire engines.

"I'll be honest, I was scared driving over there and looking at the flames," Young said. He watched 8-foot flames from the cab.

By 3 a.m. the flames were knocked down and Young headed home, having burned about 60 gallons of fuel. He kept the till attached to his tractor, just in case.

Illustration: farm tractors pulling tillage tools to cut a fireline ahead of a grass fire at night — Illustration: an AI re-creation of farmers cutting firelines with tractors and tillage tools, not a photograph of the event

More Than a Dozen Tractors

Young was not alone. Across the county that night, more than a dozen farmers drove tractors toward fast-moving wildfires alongside volunteer firefighters from more than 20 agencies. They cut firelines through fields and yards to protect neighbors, homes and livestock.

Some checked in with incident command and asked where they were needed, county emergency manager Jake Rockwell said. Others just showed up and took direction from firefighters in the fields.

Oil field workers joined in as well. Tom Blach followed two fire trucks in his front-end loader, scraping aside burning silkweed and sagebrush, while his son Justin hauled water from fertilizer company tanks to resupply the trucks. Yuma County has no major fire hydrants.

The Night Neighbors Showed Up

Gina and Dennis Eastin lived within a quarter-mile of the flames. When neighbors called to tell them to get out, people started showing up in their driveway without being asked, helping them load their car.

The couple drove to the top of a hill about 5 miles west and watched the fire shift direction with the wind. They were certain their home was gone. Their house was spared, and the fire stopped about 200 yards from their pasture, where 40 head of cattle roam.

"If You Can, You Help"

Crews spent nearly 20 hours containing the three fires, which burned several outbuildings, an uninhabited house and an airport hangar. The Colorado Sun reported that some chickens and a rabbit were also lost.

"When you grow up in an ag setting, where you know your nearest neighbor might be 5 miles away, they're still your neighbor," Young said. "If you can, you help. If there's a way to help, you try."

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