Home News Monday News, April 30th

Monday News, April 30th

Area Firefighters Busy With Weekend Grass/Field Fires

(Le Mars) — Strong southeast winds gusting up to near 40 mph on Sunday, along with low humidity levels produced ideal conditions for several area grass and field fires during the weekend. The National Weather Service had issued a wind advisory along with a “red flag warning” indicating the
possibility for fires was extremely high. Area firefighters were busy battling several reported grass fires over the weekend. The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department responded to 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 Departmart 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 Hinton and Akron Fire Departments were busy with grass and field fires on Saturday.

 

Hinton Fire Department Responds To Field Fire On Sunday Afternoon

(Hinton) — Late Sunday afternoon, the Hinton Fire Department was called to a farm on 300th street, just east of
county road K-49 for a brush fire that got out of control. Hinton Fire Chief Chad Beck says the strong gusting winds helped spread a brush fire to a nearby field.

Beck says fortunately the fire was contained due to the field having previously been tilled.

 

 

Three Fire Departments Respond To Round Corn Stalk Bale Fire

(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. Little is known at this time as to how that fire may have started, or the extent of damage.

 

 

Le Mars Fire Department Responds To Apartment Fire 

(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department responded to an apartment fire Saturday evening at about 10:00 p.m. at the Regency Villa apartment complex located on the east side of town at the 1000 block of 2nd Street southeast. Residents of the four-plex apartments were evacuated when firefighters arrived on the scene. A couch caught on fire and produced heavy
smoke in the the apartment complex. Firefighters carried the burning couch outside, and then used large fans to ventilate the smoke from the building.


All the residents were able to return to their homes after about an hour.
Chief Schipper says the apartment was spared of further damage after firefighters carried the couch outside. He explains how the couch caught on fire.

The female resident from the apartment that had the fire, was checked out by the Le Mars Ambulance Service and determined to be fine. The Le Mars Police Department and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office also responded to that apartment fire.