Sheldon, Iowa — Sheldon firefighters were called out on Thursday afternoon.
According to Sheldon Assistant Fire Chief Brad Hindt, the Sheldon Fire Company was paged out about 4:55 p.m. The call was for round bales on fire a half of a mile south of Highway 18 on Log Avenue — about two miles west of Sheldon.
Hindt says when they got there, the Sheldon firefighters found two round cornstalk bales on fire in the field. He says they quickly knocked down the fire and the burning field around the bales and then had the farmer tear apart and spread the bales out so they could be completely extinguished. He says both water and foam were used.
Assistant Chief Hindt tells us the cause of the fire is undetermined, as the bales had been “out of the baler for a little while.” He tells us the firefighters were back in service in a little more than an hour, at 6:05 p.m.
A little earlier on Thursday, the Archer Fire Department was called out to a combine smoking at 390th Street and Nest Avenue, two miles south and four west of Archer, about 3:20 p.m. Archer Fire Chief Don De Boer says the farmer had just finished with a field and had taken off the head, when he smelled smoke, so he called 911.
De Boer says when they got there, they looked for any cause of the smoke, but couldn’t find any. He says they used their thermal imaging camera, but everything was normal temperature. He says they imagine the smoke probably came from some corn leaves wrapped up on the shaft.
