Northwest Iowa — The Sutherland, Calumet, and Ireton fire departments have had a number of fire calls over the past few days.
It started Sunday when the Calumet Fire Department responded to a fire in an abandoned house northwest of town. O’Brien County Sheriff’s officials are investigating that fire, and if you have any information, you’re asked to call them. Fire chief Korey Dau says they were called back to that place to put out hot spots later.
Calumet firefighters were called on Tuesday afternoon to a grass fire at 470th Street and Starling Avenue, about 4:35 p.m. That’s only about a mile away from the location of Sunday’s house fire. Dau says it burned about four acres. The cause of that fire was that someone was burning CRP acres and the fire got away from them and got into some cornstalks. He says it burned about four acres-worth before they were able to get it under control, with the help of the Sutherland Fire Department. The 16 firefighters that responded were there for about an hour, says Dau.
Speaking of the Sutherland Fire Department, they had their own fire to respond to the day before. Fire Chief Mark Shriver says the call was for a field fire at 7083 360th Street, about 4:38 p.m. on Monday. He says a neighbor was burning grass and the fire got away from him and burned about 50 acres of cornstalks before they could get the fire under control. Shriver says the Peterson Fire Department brought two grass rigs, and the Calumet Fire Department brought water to help fight the fire. Plus a farmer’s side-by-side UTV with a sprayer was also used. Shriver says this was a little bigger fire. He says the 21 firefighters who responded were on scene for about three hours.
In Ireton’s fire district, there have been two recent fires. On Tuesday, fire chief Richard Steckelberg says that it was a cornstalk field on fire across the street from 902 Fifth Street in western Ireton. The call went out about 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday. He says someone was burning trash and the fire got away from them. He says a small area of cornstalks was burned, and firefighters were on-scene for about a half hour.
The day before, the Ireton Fire Department was called out to 490th Street and Dove Avenue, a half mile west and two and a half miles south of Ireton for a cornstalk field fire. That call went out about 11:20 a.m. on Monday. According to firefighter and former chief Stewart Eisma, a farmer was burning set-aside acres along a creek and the fire got away from him. He says it was no-till ground, so there was plenty for the fire to burn. He says it burned about 6 acres. The eight firefighters who responded were there for about an hour and a half.
