Northwest Iowa — Northwest Iowa fire departments responded to some calls over the weekend.
According to Sibley Fire Chief Kenny Huls, about 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, the Sibley Fire Department was called to the report of a barn fire at 4946 110th Street, which is two miles west, six north, and a half west of Sibley.
The chief says the fire department saw that the barn was mostly burned down as they approached the scene. He says the owner of the acreage had a contractor clearing trees, and the owner had lit the tree pile on fire. But the wind picked up late morning, which must have picked up some embers, which ignited the barn. He says that due to the location of the owner’s home, they were in the home during the fire, but couldn’t see it from there. They were alerted to it when they heard some popping noises, and 911 was called at that point. Huls says the contractor’s Caterpillar was adjacent to the barn, and the radiant heat started the Cat on fire. He says by the time they got there the cab was fully involved in flame. He says they doused the Cat and spot fires.
He says they called for the Little Rock firefighters, but told them they could disregard when they arrived.
Chief Huls reports that the barn and Cat were totaled. The 1995 Cat was estimated to be valued at $60,000. The barn was scheduled for demolition anyway, but there was about $5000 worth of materials inside that were destroyed.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for less than an hour.
A couple of smaller fires were also reported. The George Fire Department extinguished a tree fire that was called in about 11:15 on Sunday morning. Fire Chief Bill Sprock says someone had been burning in their fire pit at 308 East Dakota Avenue when some sparks must have gotten into a partially-dead maple tree. He says firefighters extinguished the tree and were back to the station within a half an hour. He says the damage was limited to the tree.
The Hawarden Fire Department also responded to a call — that one on Friday afternoon, about 4:20 p.m. The fire was reported at 1449 500th Street, which is roughly six miles south of Hawarden. Fire Chief Duane Schieffen reports that it was just a brush pile fire that went out of control. He says the damage was limited to surrounding grass. He says they were there for 20 minutes or less.
