Sioux County, Iowa — At least four communities along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line in central Sioux and Plymouth counties had fire calls on Monday.
Sioux Center Fire Chief David Van Holland says it stemmed from a rail grinding machine grinding the rails along the route. He says with the dry conditions on Monday, the sparks from the machine got into the crevices of one of the railroad ties under the track about a half a mile south of Purdue’s Sioux Preme Packing and started the tie on fire.
He says there was only one tie on fire near Sioux Center. Maurice Fire Chief Jeff Vander Weide tells us two ties were smoldering at 490th Street and the tracks, about a mile and a half south of Maurice.
Van Holland says it didn’t stop there. He says he heard that both Hinton and Merrill fire departments further south had similar calls.
Another small fire was extinguished by the Hull Fire Department on Saturday. The occupants had been burning trees, according to Hull Assistant Fire Chief Mike Van Otterloo. He says less than five acres of stubble burned and the firefighters were on the scene about half an hour extinguishing the fire.
