Northwest Iowa — A number of fires were fought by northwest Iowa fire departments in the last couple of days.
A tractor was destroyed in a fire near Larchwood on Thursday night.
According to Larchwood Fire Chief Tony DeSmet, about 7:20 p.m., the Larchwood Fire Department was called to the report of a tractor fire, which they found a half a mile east of Chestnut Avenue on 120th Street, in the field.
The chief says the fire department saw the tractor fully engulfed and some standing corn and stalks from harvested corn on fire as they approached the scene. He says they used water from two grass rigs to fight the fire. A tanker also responded to the scene.
DeSmet says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to have been electrical in nature, according to the farmer.
Chief DeSmet reports that the tractor was totaled in the blaze.
He says the 12 firefighters who responded were on the scene for about 20 minutes.
The Sutherland Fire Department was called out earlier that day.
According to Sutherland Fire Chief Mark Shriver, about 4:55 p.m., the Sutherland Fire Department was called to the report of a grain dryer fire at 6940 400th Street, which is about six miles north and three and a half east of Sutherland.
The chief says the fire department saw that the owner had the fire put out with water. He says the farmer wanted them to stand by as he dumped the corn from the dryer unit to make sure there were no other hot spots, after some burned corn was removed.
Shriver says no injuries were reported.
The Calumet Fire Department was also paged, but Shriver says they called them off.
He says the cause of the fire was that wet corn got stuck and plugged the unit, so the corn just cooked.
Chief Shriver reports that damage was limited to a few bushels of corn.
He says the four firefighters who responded were on the scene for about an hour.
The day before, on Wednesday afternoon, the Hartley Fire Department was called out. Some standing corn was destroyed in a fire near Hartley.
According to Hartley Fire Assistant Chief Matt Wildeman, about 3:45 p.m., the Hartley Fire Department was called to the report of a field fire about a quarter of a mile east of Warbler Avenue on 350th Street, three miles south of the east side of Hartley.
The assistant chief says the fire department saw some standing corn and harvested corn stalks on fire as they approached the scene. He says they used water to fight the fire. He says they caught a break because winds were light and the corn was a little damp.
Assistant Chief Wildeman says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to have been something hot in the combine. He says they looked for hot spots in the combine but did not find any. He says the damage was limited to less than half an acre of standing corn.
He says the ten firefighters who responded were on the scene for about a half an hour.
