Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Friday requested President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration related to the state’s historic Morrill Fire and other wildfires that burned 821,000 acres across the state between March and April.

Acceptance of the request would unlock federal funding for Nebraska to help repair roads, bridges, and power infrastructure damaged by the Morrill, Cottonwood, Ashby, and Minor fires. State and federal emergency managers have previously estimated that damage costs reached nearly $9.7 million.

“As Nebraska faced historic wildfires, the people of our state came together to jumpstart the recovery process,” Pillen said in a press release on Friday. “I’m submitting my request for a disaster declaration to the White House and FEMA. We appreciate President Trump’s attention to this matter and his long-standing support of our state when we have requested disaster recovery funding.”

An estimated 642,029 acres of the 821,000-acre total were from the Morrill Fire alone, which started on March 12. It went on to trigger numerous evacuations and the activation of agricultural irrigation systems in Morrill County.

The fire may have burned more if it weren’t for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s “Next Generation Fire System,” which was called a “game changer” by wildfire managers due to early warning capabilities and its up-to-the-minute data sharing.

“On March 12, the NGFS detection came in around 1:40 pm MT,” said Watch Duty Manager of Operational Intelligence and Mapping Liam Winstead. “At that stage, we did not have eyes on the ground or radio traffic to monitor. Within 10 minutes, additional NGFS detections showed the heat spreading rapidly in alignment with the wind, providing the confirmation that this was a fast-moving vegetation fire. We posted the incident and alerted the county just 13 minutes after the initial detection.”

The vast majority of the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge also burned in the Morrill Fire. The refuge is located in the Nebraska Sandhills, which researchers have labeled the world’s most important intact prairie, as one of the last large native prairies that has not been substantially modified or converted to farmland.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Critically important prairie widely burned by Nebraska wildfire

“Since these fires, we’ve been blessed beyond measure to see the outpouring of support – and load after load of hay – cross county and state lines to support ranching families and communities in the Sandhills,” Pillen said. “Nebraskans are tough as nails, and we’ll get through this moment together.”

The Morrill Fire was declared the “largest wildfire in state history” by Gov. Jim Pillen and other local officials after it burned 460,000 acres two days after it started. Numerous news outlets, including Wildfire Today, then amplified the claim, but historians are pushing back against it.

At least one much larger fire burned off a major section of Nebraska and the Great Plains in 1865, and it was deliberately set by the U.S. Army to drive Native Americans out of a valley outside present-day Omaha, according to the Nebraska State Historical Society. 

READ MORE: It was big, but the Morrill Fire isn’t the largest wildfire in Nebraska’s history