We Have Additional Details On Fire Near May City That Destroyed Thousands Of Bales Of Corn Stalks
We Have Additional Details On Fire Near May City That Destroyed Thousands Of Bales Of Corn Stalks
May 12, 2022Steve Schwaller
(Harris)– We have additional details into a fire that destroyed thousands of bales of corn stalks at a chicken farm in Osceola county. May City Fire Chief Nick Shaffer tells KUOO news multiple fire departments were called to Sunrise Farms near May City Wednesday when the fire, which had already been burning for a couple of days, was threatening to flare up…
“We were trying our darnedest to let it burn itself out while we supervised it. But after looking at the forecast yesterday morning we realized that the winds were going to pick up severely and start blowing embers into the buildings. There’s a couple of buildings there that have portions of the roof missing from the storms a couple of weeks ago, and that’s the last thing we wanted is for embers to go in and ignite one of the chicken buildings on fire. So we just made the decision to call in the troops, if you will, and at it’s peak we had Harris, Melvin, Ocheyedan, Lake Park, Hartley, Milford and Sibley fire departments out helping us in some sort of capacity.”
Shaffer says his department had been battling the fire since Monday…
“It never really went out. It was contained as of Monday evening and then it walked, if you will, to the next pile. There’s several piles there. There was the initial pile that was, we were estimating at about 600 bales, then there was a pile of round bales somewhat next to it that I think was 1,600 bales; there was another pile to the south of there that we have no clue how many there was. If I had to guess there probably would be 500 to 1,000 bales in that pile, as well. Then there was another pile yet on the other side of the driveway that I never did look at that one until it was on fire.”
Shaffer says it was an extensive area that was burning…
“It’s a physically large area that we had to cover and there’s no way that any department had enough hose. We had, you know, five pumpers staged around, if you will, around the entire area and there was very little room for us to cross over each other.”
Shaffer adds it was very exhausting for firefighters, especially for those on his department…
“We had guys on hand or out there since 11:00 pm Monday night. We just kind of worked in shifts not to get too tired. We had some guys take over Tuesday evening at 10:00 I believe, anda couple of those guys did not leave until we finally finished yesterday at about 5:00.”
Shaffer expresses his sincere appreciation to all of the departments that responded Wednesday, along with Osceola Rural Water for their assistance.
Shaffer says they believe the fire started as a result of spontaneous combustion, but he says they aren’t 100 percent sure.
