Northwest Iowa — Northwest Iowa firefighters have been busy this week. Here are some details about three area fires.
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Alvord, Iowa — A farm grove and a pile of logs were damaged in a fire on Wednesday, January 26, 2022, near Alvord.
According to Alvord firefighter Tanner Van Middendorp, about 2:35 p.m., the Alvord Fire Department was called to the report of a grove on fire at 2215 Dove Avenue, which is about a mile and a half west and a little over a mile south of Alvord.
He says the fire department saw smoke coming from the grove, and then flames as they approached the scene. He says they used hand lines to extinguish the fire. The farmer assisted by using a skid loader to break apart the pile of logs so firefighters could get at the fire.
Firefighter Van Middendorp says no injuries were reported.
Van Middendorp says the occupants had been burning branches the day before and the wind is thought to have spread sparks and re-ignited the fire from the previous day.
He reports that the damage was limited to the trees and logs.
Van Middendorp says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for about an hour and a half.
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Sutherland, Iowa — A pile of what appeared to be oatlage was destroyed in a fire on Thursday, January 27, 2022, near Sutherland.
According to Sutherland Fire Chief Mark Shriver, about 10:00 p.m., the Sutherland Fire Department was called to the report of a hay fire at 4222 Warbler Avenue, three and a half miles north, a mile east, and another half mile north of Sutherland.
The chief says the fire department saw a pile of what appeared to be ground oatlage smoking as they approached the scene. He says the product appeared to have been ground some time ago, and when they got there, there were embers throughout the oatlage. One truck stayed on the scene and sprayed the oatlage hot spots as it was going out to be spread on a field. But the other trucks went back to the fire station.
Shriver says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to be spontaneous combustion.
Chief Shriver reports that the damage was limited to the oatlage itself.
He says the firefighters who stayed on-scene were on there for about an hour and a half to two hours.
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Hull, Iowa — A home’s bathroom was damaged in a fire on Friday, January 28, 2022, near Hull.
According to Hull Fire Chief Ron Hoksbergen, about 6:40 a.m., the Hull Fire Department was called to the report of a possible house fire and smoke coming from the attic at 2974 Ibex Avenue, a mile north, a mile east, and a half-mile back north of Hull.
The chief says the fire department saw smoke coming from the attic as they approached the scene. He says they found some burned wiring in the wall. They had to tear down a wall and some ceiling to get at the fire, which he said smoked up the attic pretty well.
Hoksbergen says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by the Rock Valley firefighters, but they returned to their station after about 20 to 30 minutes when they could tell that the Hull firefighters had it under control.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to be electrical in nature, but wasn’t sure beyond that what may have caused the issue.
Chief Hoksbergen reports that the damage when considered as a small part of the house was minimal, but there was significant damage to the bathroom. He says it will need to be gutted.
Hoksbergen tells us the firefighters who stayed on the scene were there for about an hour.
