Sibley, Iowa — A semi tractor was destroyed in a blaze late Friday afternoon on Highway 60 near Sibley.
Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls tells KIWA that his crews were paged about 4:20 Friday afternoon to the call of a semi-truck fire on the southbound side of Highway 60, just south of A-22, in the vicinity of Jackrabbit Junction.
Huls says the truck driver had pulled to the side of the highway, and attempted to extinguish the blaze with a fire extinguisher, but was unable to do so. The Chief says when fire crews arrived at the scene, the semi’s tractor was fully engulfed. Heat from the fire reportedly ignited grass in the ditch, which spread into a field of standing corn stalks. The Ashton Fire Department was called out to assist, and they battled the ditch and field fire, according to Huls. He says the effort to extinguish the fire in the standing stalks was aided by a tractor and disc provided by a nearby implement dealer.
Chief Huls reports that the semi tractor, a 2008 Volvo, owned by KSX Trucking of Arion, Iowa, was completely destroyed, with damage estimated at about $150-thousand. Amazingly, the trailer, which contained soybean oil soap being transported from Mankato to Sioux City, was undamaged.
No injuries were reported, according to Huls, and firefighters were on the scene for about two hours.
Sibley Firefighters were assisted at the scene by the Ashton Fire Department and a deputy from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
