Fire officials were in Lee County Friday trying to figure out what caused nearly 200 acres of land to go up in flames. Grass fires sprung up along a stretch of Highway 21 Thursday, charring land, and coming close to several homes.

But residents say the fire could have been much worse.

Clyde Perry was sitting outside selling watermelons Thursday when he caught a whiff of danger...

"I smelled something burning," Perry said.

That's when Perry says he looked up to see a truck travelling down the road with a trailer and sparks beginning to fly.

"I started hollering to get the store to call the fire department and when I looked down yonder there was smoke and fire blazing," Perry said.

"I came running out the door on the phone with 911 and there was a fire behind Clyde and near the highway," K&C Quick Stop owner Missy Strom said.

Missy Strom says she grabbed a hose to help fight off the flames.

"We had three to four guys out here and they had water buckets and a towel and they were out there. We were trying to keep it from coming up to the store," Strom said.

It didn't take long for the fire to take over more than a 100 acres of land, stopping just short of several homes, thanks to some fast acting firefighters.

"They saved probably six to seven houses along here," Perry said.

Friday morning remnants of what didn't survive the blaze still lingered in the air and on the ground.

Smoke and ash is now all that remains of hundreds of bails of hay in Lee County-- hay that the owner says would sell for $60 to $100 a bail, meaning thousands of dollars went up in smoke.

An area storage shed met a similar fate. There, the sprinklers are still on and hoses still running.

"There's a lot of rubbage papers that they store, and there as they burn if the wind picks it up and moves it to the next place we might get another fire again, so they're just keeping it wet," volunteer firefighter Alvin Hannes said.

Dime Box volunteer firefighter Hannes says dry conditions only helped fuel the flames.

"We haven't gotten a rain here since Noah's flood I believe. It's been a long time," Hannes said.

But Hannes says the fire could have been much worse if it hadn't been for multiple volunteer fire departments stepping in to provide a helping hand.

"I appreciate you all coming to help," Hannes said to a Lincoln firefighter who responded to Thursday's blaze.

Officials say in all, four volunteer fire departments responded. And although, they managed to control the fire in a couple of hours, they've been called out several times since to put out hot spots.

Fire officials have yet to rule on an official cause of the blaze.