BISMARCK, N.D. — A South African man who died in a North Dakota wildfire over the weekend was expected to be back with his wife in the coming weeks in time for the birth of their first child.
Nicholas van Eeden, 26, was driving home to Tioga on Saturday when the smoke became too thick and he died from smoke inhalation, his wife Anke said, based on a state trooper’s report. told the Associated Press. It’s unclear exactly what happened, but officers found him alive and able to walk. However, he died shortly after arriving in Williston by ambulance.
Van Eeden was one of two people killed in wildfires that ripped through scattered parts of western North Dakota over the weekend, injuring several others and displacing more than 100 people.
“He was a really wonderful person,” Anke van Eeden said of her husband. “And he truly loved everyone around him and cared about everyone. And I think the only thing that kept him going was the fact that he was so excited to meet his little girl. I think so.”
The couple is expecting a daughter in November. Anke learned of Nicholas’ death shortly after the baby shower. They married in February and had been together for three and a half years. They met through mutual friends.
They came to North Dakota together in late April. Nicholas is doing general farm work on a ranch in the Tioga area under the farmworker visa program, “just to give him financial support to get started,” Anke said.
He was scheduled to return home in three weeks for the birth of his baby. Anke, 31, quit her job earlier this year and went to North Dakota with her family caregiver, Nicholas. She returned to George, South Africa in early August.
She said the couple’s last conversation was a routine phone call where he let her know he was driving home.
Messages, prayers and condolences from North Dakota have reached her on the other side of the world, and the response has been “more than we ever thought possible,” she said. .
Brittany Walla said Nicholas is a great worker who takes everything he does seriously. During the summer, Nicholas worked for his family on the farm and ranch for two years, from driving combines to working cattle. He said he did everything from spreading fertilizer to the area.
“Anything we asked him to do, he did it. And if he didn’t know how to do something, he was very willing to learn,” she said. .
The snow and cold of North Dakota was a shock to him – and he drove on the right side of the road – but Walla’s family is a farmer with as good a work ethic as any South African he’s ever employed. He said he had never experienced such a person. of their families.
The van Eeden family plans to hold a memorial service for Nicholas in the coming days. His ashes won’t reach the house until after his daughter is born.
Officials on Tuesday confirmed the second death related to the Williams County fires, Edgar Coppersmith, 47, of Tioga.
Detective Dan Ward said Coppersmith was taken to Denver for his injuries. He died there, but Ward said it was unclear when or how he was injured.
Ward said Coppersmith and Van Eeden were injured in separate incidents. Six other people were injured in fires in the county.
The fires were part of six large wildfires that broke out in scattered areas of western North Dakota over the weekend, fueled by dry conditions and wind gusts of nearly 80 miles per hour. Authorities believe at least some of the fires were caused by downed power lines.
Firefighters got better control of two other large wildfires in western North Dakota on Tuesday.
As of 3:52 p.m. Tuesday, the 28,434-acre (11,507-hectare) Elkhorn Fire near Grassy Butte was 50% contained, and the 11,746-acre (4,753-hectare) Bearden Fire near Manderly was 30% contained. State Office of Emergency Services.
No injuries were reported in connection with the two fires. Two houses and numerous villas were lost. Both fires are burning in rugged badlands terrain in North Dakota’s oil fields.
The North Dakota State Forest Service reported 33 fires over the weekend, totaling 49,180 acres (19,902 hectares).
This number does not include the combined large fires in the Wray, Tioga and Alamo areas. The fire is estimated to have burned 88,934 acres (35,990 hectares), but there may be some parts of that area that did not burn, a department spokeswoman said. The fire was 99% contained. Relapse remains a problem.
More than 100 people were evacuated from their homes in the Arnegard and Keene areas Saturday due to the fire.
Livestock losses due to the fire were not immediately known. Hundreds of utility poles were damaged. Parts of two expressways were temporarily closed.
Officials expect dangerous fire conditions to continue this fall.