George, Iowa — Between fifty and sixty round bales were destroyed in a fire on Tuesday, May 9, 2017 near George.
According to George Fire Chief Bill Sprock, about 12:40 PM, the George Fire Department was called to the report of a pile of bales on fire at Devin Fluit’s place at 3610 180th Street, three miles north and a mile east of George.
The chief says the fire department saw fifty to sixty round cornstalk bales on fire as they approached the scene. He says they separated the burning bales from those that had not caught fire. He says there were about 300 cornstalk bales in all. Sprock says they also protected about 1000 straw bales that were nearby, but they were told not to put out the burning cornstalk bales and just to let them burn.
Sprock says no injuries were reported, and no damage was reported to anything but the cornstalk bales.
The fire department was assisted by the Rock Rapids Fire Department. Sprock says they brought extra water and firefighters, and that about 25 firefighters responded in all.
He says the cause of the fire may have been electrical as there is a transformer near where the bales were, or it might have been spontaneous combustion, but officially the cause was undetermined.
Chief Sprock estimates that there was somewhere around $3,000 in damage.
He says they used about 7500 gallons of water to fight the fire, and crews were on scene until about 4:00 p.m.
