Orange City, Iowa — Three fire departments were called out for a fire on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, near Orange City.
According to Orange City Fire Chief Dan Roghair, at about 12:35 p.m., the Orange City Fire Department was called to the report of smoke in the area at 3530 470th Street, a mile south and a mile and a half west of Orange City.
The chief says this turned out to be a situation in which a burn pile on a farm place, which hadn’t been burned in weeks, was suddenly uncovered, and the slowly smoldering bits that had been underground sprang to flame again in Tuesday’s strong winds.
Roghair says no injuries were reported.
He says the Alton Fire Department provided automatic mutual aid, and the Maurice Fire Department was asked to bring a tanker.
Chief Roghair reports that the damage was limited to the burn pile, so nothing of value was lost.
He says the firefighters and Orange City Ambulance personnel who responded were on the scene for a little over an hour.
Roghair wants to remind people that old fires are capable of coming back to life much longer than we think with strong winds in the area. Sometimes there is no visible evidence that there are still smoldering bits, but the strong wind can uncover them and fan them into flame. He says people who burn need to remember this, and check on old fires — even those that haven’t been burned in weeks — when the winds are strong.
KIWA Staff Photo
