UPDATE:Sheldon, Iowa — A fire at the Sheldon Tree Dump kept firefighters busy all Saturday afternoon and has caused the dump to be closed until further notice.
According to Sheldon Assistant Fire Chief Brand Hindt, the Sheldon Fire Company was called to the city tree dump at 3110 Monroe Avenue around 11:30 Saturday morning for a report that the tree pile was on fire.
When they got there, Hindt says firefighters found the west side of the pile was on fire. He says they controlled the fire while City employees used a payloader to split the pile in half. But he says that did not work due to the large amount of debris in the pile. Firefighters stood by until most of the pile burned down, according to Hindt.
He says they asked for Sanborn firefighters to bring a tanker truck to haul water.
Hindt tells us the firefighters were on the scene for five hours, and the cause of the fire is unknown at this point.
The tree pile is still on fire and it could be that way for several days, says Hindt.
Sheldon City Manager Sam Kooiker tells us the tree dump is closed until further notice. He says the fire is burning itself out and it will take a while. Barricades have been posted. He says the City is asking people not to dump branches in front of the gate and they also cannot be dumped at the leaf dump.
He says the City is sorry for the inconvenience, and that the tree dump will be reopened as soon as possible.
——————————–
Original notice, posted Jul 11, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon tree dump is currently closed, due to a fire.
Sheldon City Manager Sam Kooiker says, “The Sheldon Fire Department has asked me to inform you that the City tree dump north of Sheldon is closed until further notice.”
We hope to have more information soon.
