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  • Grass Fire On Iowa-Minnesota Border Burns More Than 20 Acres

Grass Fire On Iowa-Minnesota Border Burns More Than 20 Acres

April 05, 2022 Steve Schwaller

(Spirit Lake)– A grass fire late this (Monday) afternoon on the Iowa-Minnesota border north of Little Spirit Lake burned more than 20 acres of land. Spirit Lake Fire Chief Pat Daly tells KUOO news they were called to the 1000 block of 235th Avenue a little before 4:30 pm…

“We got paged out at about 4:23. We had a controlled burn that got out of hand. It was out in a field. So we got out there and they had, the farmers had a bunch of ATV’s out there so that helped us get it coraled and we were there about an hour on the scene trying to get the hot spots out and stuff.”

Daly says no structures were immediately threatened by the fire. He says it’s proof as to the very high fire danger the region is currently facing…

“Just like these guys, they thought they had it in hand with all those ATV’s and all of a sudden that wind changes and it is so dry it takes off and there’s just no stopping it, it just gets going. And of course you know Iowa, it’s always breezy here in Iowa. So but if you’re going to do something like that make sure you call the Comm Center and let them know. Don’t call 911, call 336-2525 and let them know you’ve got a controlled burn going. Probably a good idea to have a water source handy, too? A water source and manpower.”

Spirit Lake firefighters were on the scene a little more than an hour.

That was one of several grass fires reported in the region Monday. A large grass fire near Everly prompted a response from numerous area fire departments, including Milford. Smoke from that fire could be seen from as far away as Spirit Lake.

The Milford Fire Department was called again a little after 7:30 pm Monday after getting a report of several areas of a ditch on fire along the east side of Highway 71 near the tanks south of Milford. Firefighters were at that location for just a few minutes.

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