Northwest Iowa — Two field fires were reported in the southern part of our coverage area on Friday, April 19th, and a brush fire was reported in Sibley.
The first one was a mile north and four miles east of Ireton at 4489 Garfield Avenue. The Ireton Fire Department was called to a cornstalk field and waterway on fire, about 5:30 p.m. Chief Richard Steckelberg says a controlled burn of waterway got out of control and into cornstalks, so the farmer called 911. He says very little damage was done, and the eight firefighters who responded were there for about a half an hour.
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A little earlier that day, two fire departments put out a brush fire at 420th Street and Silver Avenue. That’s about three miles south of Primghar on Highway 59. Primghar Fire Chief Gary Lansink says they were paged about 2:10 p.m. He says a farmer had been burning grass, when the wind got a hold of the fire. Lansink tells us that they called for help from the Paullina Fire Department. He says the eleven firefighters who responded were there for about an hour.
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On Saturday night, the Sibley Fire Department was called out for a small grass fire at about 6:30 p.m. Fire Chief Ken Huls says it was at A-22 and 11th Avenue. He says An electrical resistor popped on a power line and the hot parts fell into the grass in a ditch below it. Huls reports the six firefighters who responded were on scene for about 20 minutes. He says the Osceola County Sheriff’s Department and personnel from the City of Sibley Utilities assisted with the response.
Fire departments were busy across northwest Iowa. Other weekend fire calls were for ditch fires near Maurice, Alton, and Orange City.
Lansink suggests that if you’re going to be burning ditches, waterways, or other brush areas, to have a tractor with a disk available nearby. He says that disking some ground around the fire is one of the best ways to stop a brush fire, and that’s hard to do when there isn’t one nearby.
