The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating a fatality crash that occurred on Highway 283 during response to the large fire southeast of Elwood.
Shortly after 5 Thursday afternoon a vehicle driven by Phelps County Emergency Manager Justin Norris, with passenger Darren Krull, Chief of the Elwood Volunteer Fire Department, was struck head on by a truck hauling water, approximately eight miles north of Arapahoe on Highway 283.
Krull
Chief Krull, 54, of Elwood, died at the scene. Norris, 40, of Holdrege. Norris has been transferred to a hospital in Omaha. He remains in stable condition as of this morning.
The driver of the water truck was not injured in the crash. The fire and smoke in the area had created zero-visibility conditions on the roadway at the time of the crash.