Sioux Center, Iowa — Several bales were destroyed and a building was damaged in a fire fought by three fire departments on Monday, December 18, 2017 near Sioux Center.
According to Sioux Center Fire Chief David Van Holland, about 5:05 p.m., the Sioux Center Fire Department was called to the report of a building on fire at 4163 Hickory Avenue, two miles east and a half a mile south of Sioux Center.
The chief says the fire department saw lots of smoke and bales on fire with a building on fire as well as they approached the scene. He says they used water and the farmer helped them pull apart the bales to extinguish the fire.
Van Holland says no injuries were reported.
Sioux Center firefighters were assisted by the Ireton, Maurice, and Orange City Fire Departments.
He says the farmer had been grinding bales into a commodity shed. He says the cause of the fire appeared to have been a hot bearing on the grinder. He says the commodity shed was on fire when they got there, but firefighters were able to save the shed. He estimates that between 10 and 20 bales were destroyed.
He says they used 20,000 gallons of water to fight the fire, and crews were on scene for two and a half hours.
