(Le Mars) — Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department responded to a call of a power line having been snagged and pulled down by a tractor and grain wagon with that power line still charged and draped on the tractor and with people inside the cab. That incident occurred Saturday afternoon at about 12:40 p.m. on Hedge Avenue near 140th Street, about eleven miles northwest of Le Mars. Once they arrived at the scene, and requested the utility cooperative to shut off the power in order to help the people safely out of the cab, a second problem then erupted at near the same location. Firefighters noticed a hog barn across the road had smoke coming from its roof ventilation system. Le Mars Fire and Rescue Chief Dave Schipper explains what had happened.
Schipper tells of how the hog barn had caught on fire.
Schipper says the people were fortunate to remain inside the tractor cab until such time the power was shut off, and as far as the hog barn, it had suffered only a small amount of damage. Schipper says they were fortunate not to have the event happened late at night, which would have caused more extensive damage to the hog barn.
North West Rural Electric Cooperative and Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
