Northwest Iowa — Fire Departments were kept busy over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in northwest Iowa.
Probably the biggest fire call was on Thanksgiving Day near Hawarden. Three fire departments responded to the call in which a shed was destroyed.
According to Hawarden Fire Chief Duane Schiefen, about 10:15 p.m., the Hawarden Fire Department was called to the report of a barn fire at 1958 420th Street, three miles north and four-and-a-half east of Hawarden. The chief says the fire department saw the shed fully engulfed as they approached the scene. Schiefen says no injuries were reported to people, pets, or livestock. The fire department was assisted by the Ireton and Sioux Center fire departments. He says the cause of the fire appeared to be sparks from a burning barrel that was thought to be out. Chief Schiefen reports that the shed was empty, but was totaled in the blaze. He says they used four to five thousand gallons of water to fight the fire, and crews were on scene for about an hour.
Earlier that day, on the other side of our coverage area, the Sutherland Fire Department was paged to 4135 Yellow Avenue for cornstalk pile on fire. That’s roughly four miles east and five miles north of Sutherland. Fire Chief Mark Shriver says it was at Cityview Farms. He says they chop corn stalks with a chopper at that location, pack them and cover the pile. He says farm workers opened a pile, and with the fresh air, it spontaneously combusted in the middle on one edge. He says by the time firefighters arrived, the workers already had three payloaders spreading it out and digging out the hot spot. According to Shriver, they moved about 20 ton to put out the 80 by 10-foot hot spot. He says fire crews watered down some of it, and helped with lights.
Just after midnight, early on Friday the 23rd, the Paullina Fire Department was called to a tractor fire on Olive Avenue, about a mile north of Highway 10. Fire Chief Brent Noteboom says it was a small fire and they were able to save the tractor. He says they use about 400-600 gallons of water and firefighters were there for about 45 minutes.
A similar fire call was reported at 310th and Kennedy Avenue, a mile north of Boyden on Friday afternoon, just before 3:30 p.m. Fire Chief Chris Starkenburg reports the tractor’s driver noticed smoke from some corn stalks around the tractor’s muffler. He says the driver had already put most of the fire out with a fire extinguisher when they got there, but they shot some water under the tractor’s muffler guard to make sure it was out. He says fire crews used minimal water and were only there for about 20 minutes. He says when they left, the farmer was back to work with the tractor.
