Sibley. Iowa — The Sibley Fire Department prevented a waterway fire from becoming a bigger problem on Friday, April 7, 2017 near Sibley.
According to Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls, about 4:10 PM. the Sibley Fire Department was called to the report of a waterway on fire just west of the Sibley Airport on 190th Street.
The chief says the fire department saw a waterway on fire about 30 to 40 feet wide, for almost a whole mile. He says the waterway runs entire mile off of Highway 60. He says the property on 200th Street was owned by Tom Zylstra. He says it was a controlled burn that got out of control.
Huls says about 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. that day the wind really picked up and it was thought that the fire might go into the neighbor’s ground, or jump the highway.
He says they used water to fight the fire and also made a wet line in front of the burn to stop the spread of the fire. He says they used a grass rig and a pumper.
Huls says no injuries were reported.
Chief Huls reports that there was basically no damage as the grass was going to be burned anyway. He says they were fortunate that it was bean stubble on one side and chiseled corn stubble on the other. He says since it was basically black dirt with very little fuel on either side, it limited the growth of the fire.
He says they used about 1300 gallons of water to fight the fire, and crews were on scene for about a half hour.
