Firefighters and residents in several western Nebraska towns being ravaged by wildfires are praying for rain, but fear those prayers could be answered with thunderstorms.

Thunder means lightning, and lighting could mean more wildfires in the tinder-dry area.

“If that happens, we’re in trouble,” Chris Heiser, spokesman for the Chadron Volunteer Fire Department, said Sunday.

Weather forecasters were calling for a 30 percent chance of isolated thunderstorms in the area Monday and a 40 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms Monday night.

Lightning last week sparked the first of three fires raging near Chadron, officials have said. The two other fires were ignited by drifting embers from the first fire. Lighting also has been blamed for fires near Harrison, which is 46 miles west of Chadron and near the Wyoming border.

In all, more than 93 square miles been burned around the western Nebraska communities over the last three days, according to Gov. Dave Heineman’s office. Officials had been most concerned about the fires near Chadron, where three homes were destroyed, several others damaged, and the campus of Chadron State College seriously threatened before firefighters managed to turn the flames back.

Between 200 and 350 residents in three subdivisions south of Chadron and Chadron State Park were also evacuated Saturday as the fire grew.

“The wind is supposed to change directions … and bring a sort-of cold front with it that will hopefully cool the area down some,” Heiser said. “That would help us. The temperature is what’s hurting us right now. It’s killing us.”

Several firefighters, working on little to no sleep over the last couple of days, have suffered from heat exhaustion as the raging fires combined with triple-digit temperatures Saturday and Sunday, Heiser said.

No other injuries have been reported, although several head of cattle have died in the fires, Heiser said.

Heineman’s office said Sunday that attention was turning to fires near Harrison, which had burned around 78 square miles of uninhabited land. The governor returned to the area Sunday morning after having traveled to Chadron on Saturday to monitor progress.

“Last night proved to be a very difficult night, but we have seen some progress,” Heineman said, referring to fires near Chadron. “However, winds have stirred up the fires in the Harrison area, and our immediate concern is that these fires are spreading quickly.”

The two wildfires near Harrison — one south of town and the other to the north — were exhausting volunteers trying to contain the blaze.

Those volunteers include area farmers, ranchers — even housewives, said Lora Mathis, a local volunteer who answered the phone Sunday at the Harrison Volunteer Fire Department.

“This is everybody,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “There are damn fine people out here; people need to know that.”

No buildings or homes had fallen in the path of the fires, but several had been evacuated, Mathis said.

Heat, winds and extremely dry conditions have been fueling the fires. More than 500 firefighters from Nebraska, South Dakota and Colorado, 118 Nebraska National Guard members, and federal fire management teams were working to contain the fires.

The Nebraska Chapter of the American Red Cross and Salvation Army Canteens are providing support for firefighters, and a federal procurement team has been established in Scottsbluff to support federal firefighting efforts.

Chadron State College has opened dorms to shelter and feed firefighters working on the Dawes complex fires, the governor’s office said.