(Le Mars) — Area firefighters have been busy battling grass fires over the weekend. Strong southeast winds gusting up to 38 mph on Sunday helped fan two separate fires that burnt a total of more than 50 acres. The Le Mars Fire
and Rescue Department, along with the Merrill Fire Department, responded to the first grass fire that was reported at about 11:17 a.m. near Juniper Avenue and Highway 3, west of Le Mars approximately four miles. A fire pit that had been dumped was responsible for causing nearly 15 acres to be burnt.
The fire quickly spread to the northwest, burning a grass field.
Firefighters were on the scene for about 45 minutes trying to contain the fire from spreading to a nearby farmstead.
After getting the first fire under control, Le Mars Fire Chief Dave Schipper noticed a large plume of smoke billowing from the north horizon. It wasn’t 30 seconds later, when Plymouth County Communications had paged the Le Mars Fire Department notifying them of the second grass fire located near Nature Avenue and 120th Street, about four miles north of Le Mars near Highway 60. The second fire was spreading quickly, and Le Mars requested the assistance of the fire departments from Merrill, Oyens, Maurice, Orange City,and the Alton Fire Department. Also assisting with battling the fire were four local farmers
with tillage disks An hour and a half later, a total of nearly 40 acres had burnt before firefighters and local farmers were able to contain, control, and eventually extinguish the fire. The National Weather Services has issued a “Red Flag Warning,” along with a Wind Advisory for northwest Iowa for Sunday afternoon, and are calling conditions extremely dangerous for fires with the low humidity levels.
(Hull) — Firefighters from Hull, Rock Valley, and Boyden were busy Sunday afternoon battling a fire that had started large round corn bales and a nearby corn crib on fire. Akron and Hinton Fire Departments also responded to field fires on Saturday.
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Fire Department was called to an apartment fire at the Regency Villa located at the 1000 block on 2nd Street S.E. Residents within the four complex unit were evacuated when smoke was seen coming from one of the apartment units. Chief Dave Schipper says a couch caught on fire as a result of a burning cigarette. The firefighters carried the burning couch outside and used industrial fans to ventilate the smoke from the premises. The resident from the smoking apartment was checked out by the Le Mars Ambulance Services, and was determined to be fine. All the residents were able to return to their homes within 45 minutes after the fire was reported.
