Elk Mountain eighth grader helps stop fire

It was just another ordinary day when he saw the smoke.
Andrew Bradeen, son of Jason and Nan Bradeen, is an eighth grader at Elk Mountain School,  located west of Custer. Around April 26, Andrew was heading out to water his 4-H pigs at 4:30 p.m. when he realized something was wrong. 
“I got home from school, and I dropped off my backpack and ran down to go see if I needed to give water to my pigs or anything, and I started smelling smoke,” said Andrew. 
Knowing their wood stoves in the house and shop were not burning, Andrew looked around and saw smoke across the highway. 
“I was freaking out, and I knew I had to get it out,” said Andrew.
“There was a pickup, and there were a couple of logging trucks that had already stopped,” said Andrew. “So I got dad’s pickup and a couple buckets of water and went out there to give the buckets of water to them.” 
Since he was heading out to water his pigs, the buckets were already at hand. He just had to fill them up in the tank and get them across the highway where the ditch fire was burning near the turn for Jasper Cave. 
“I gave them the buckets of water, went back to dad’s pickup, and right when I got back on the highway, they said they didn’t need any more water. So then I just pulled dad’s pickup into our driveway so traffic could come, and I went back over and stayed for the cops,” said Andrew. 
The Custer County Sheriff’s Office, United States Forest Service office in Newcastle, Wyo., Weston County Fire Department and Custer Highlands Volunteer Fire Department firefighters responded to the incident. Andrew said the fire was out in about 20 minutes, and two people stayed for another hour and a half to make sure it was completely out. 
“I was just happy it was out. I did not know what to do next,” said Andrew. 
It was speculated that the fire may have started from a cigarette butt being thrown out of a car window, but no one knew for sure.
After it was all over, Andrew was honored by the Highlands Volunteer Fire Department and given a T-shirt for his service to the community. 
“It felt good,” said Andrew.