Boyden, Iowa — A round baler and a tractor were destroyed in a fire on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, near Boyden.
According to Boyden Fire Chief Chris Starkenburg, at about 4:30 p.m., the Boyden Fire Department was called to the report of a baler and field fire south of 350th Street on Kiwi Avenue, two miles west and three south of Boyden.
The chief says the fire department saw the baler and tractor fully engulfed as they approached the scene.
Starkenburg says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire may have been a hot bearing on the baler, which was being used to bale bean stalks, according to the chief.
Chief Starkenburg reports that both the baler and the tractor were totaled in the fire.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for between an hour and an hour and a half.
That was just one of the fires reported on Wednesday.
Sioux Center firefighters fought a field fire mid-morning on Wednesday with the help of Maurice firefighters. Sioux Center Chief David Van Holland says only about a half an acre of bean stubble burned. He says they are pretty sure it was caused by a combine, but this is the third fire in a row in which they were unable to tell exactly how it started. Firefighters were there for between a half an hour and an hour.
Larchwood firefighters responded to cornstalks on fire in the 4:00 p.m. hour. Fire Chief Tony De Smet says it was a small fire, with only about 1000 square feet of cornstalks on fire.
Hull and Rock Valley firefighters were called to a combine fire east of Hull at a few minutes after 6:00 p.m. Hull Fire Chief Greg Van Roekel says it was nearly out when they got there and was probably caused by a hot bearing. Firefighters remained for about a half an hour.
