Sioux Center, Iowa — Nearly 30 acres of standing corn, worth thousands of dollars was destroyed in a fire on Sunday, October 31, 2021, near Sioux Center.
According to Sioux Center Fire Chief David Van Holland, about 1:45 p.m., the Sioux Center Fire Department was called to the report of a field fire near 400th Street and Indian Avenue, three miles east and a half south of Sioux Center.
The chief says the fire grew quickly due to the wind. He says he had dispatch put out a request on their Nixle service for farmers to come to the scene with tractors and disks. He tells us that worked great, and in addition to the firefighters extinguishing the fire, they had six to seven tractors disking firebreaks and about that same number standing by ready to help.
Van Holland says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by firefighters from Maurice, Hull, and Alton.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to be exhaust from a pickup. According to Van Holland, the driver was out in the field, hunting when the fire started.
Chief Van Holland reports that five acres of corn stubble and between 20 and 30 acres of standing corn was destroyed. The corn was valued at nearly $35,000 according to the current cash price and an average of 200 bushels to the acre.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for between an hour and an hour and a half.
