Northwest Iowa — A couple of fire calls were reported recently in central Sioux and central Lyon counties.
The Rock Rapids Fire Department was called out to a tractor fire about 12 noon on Sunday south of Rock Rapids on Highway 75. Rock Rapids Fire Chief Ed Reck says the fire was at 1734 Highway 75, about a mile south of town. According to Reck, something caused a fire in the engine compartment of the tractor and the driver was able to get it off the road and onto a driveway. But due to the fire, a heater line blew and the antifreeze in the line put out the fire. Reck said firefighters just made sure the fire was out, disconnected the batteries, and returned to the station.
A little later, about 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, the Sioux Center Fire Department responded to a call. That call was to the area of 380th Street and Grant Avenue, and the caller said it was a ditch fire close to a transformer. That address is about a mile and a half northwest of the Hardee’s corner in Sioux Center. Sioux Center Fire Chief David Van Holland says they extinguished the fire in short order. He says investigation discovered that a squirrel had climbed onto overhead electric wires, and had touched both the hot wire and a connection to the ground at the same time and electrocuted itself. He says, the squirrel, now on fire, fell onto the grass below and started the fire. He says firefighters were there for about half an hour.
Van Holland says the Sioux Center firefighters were also busy on Saturday morning. He says the Country Home Motel and Campground folks decided they didn’t want the motel portion of the business anymore north of Sioux Center on Highway 75, and so firefighters conducted a training burn there. He says things went well and it was a good experience for the fire department.
