Alton, Iowa — A fire at a county park in Alton caused some damage to some grass in the park on Monday, April 6, 2020.
According to Alton Fire Chief Quintin Van Es, about 3:35 p.m., the Alton Fire Department was called to the report of a ditch fire at the county park on the east edge of Alton.
The chief says the fire department couldn’t get trucks in there, as the fire was too far off of the highway. Plus, the ground was also quite soft. He says they used fire slappers and hand tools to get it out.
Van Es says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire is undetermined. He says it’s doubtful a cigarette from a vehicle on the highway could have caused it as it’s too far from the highway. He says it is somewhat suspicious, but there are trails out there, so perhaps someone on one of the trails dropped a cigarette — but the cause is officially undetermined.
Chief Van Es reports that the damage was limited to an acre and a half to two acres of grass.
He says firefighters were on the scene for about 20 minutes.
The Little Rock Fire Department also responded to a grass fire, that on Saturday. Assistant Chief Tom Ver Steeg says someone was burning fence lines at 4397 140th Street, two miles west of Little Rock, when the fire got away from them and started burning a pasture. Ver Steeg says they got it out with a grass rig and water. He says only about a half an acre of pasture was burned, and firefighters were at that fire for about a half an hour.
