(Arnolds Park)– Crews from multiple departments and agencies battled a large grassland fire this (Wednesday) afternoon just east of Arnolds Park on 190th Street, in the Moore Lake area. Milford Fire Chief Jim Carpenter says they were called to that location around 3:30 pm…
“We were called out to a grass fire getting close to some buildings and on the way out we noticed the smoke changed to more black and then we got the report it was getting into a building and getting into a vehicle, so we went after that first, let it burn out through the pasture ground there, and called for Spirit Lake and Terril right away to get UTV’s and equipment, pickups and stuff, to get at it. Roughly how big of an area burned? Estimating right now around 200 acres, and it got into some DNR ground.”
Carpenter says they were able to prevent the fire from getting to several other structures…
“It was two machine sheds that were threatened and a trailer load of plastic dock, float dock, and paddle boats. We got to them and saved ’em.”
Carpenter says the heat, wind and terrain combined to make fighting the fire especially challenging…
“That area out there has a lot of gullies and a lot of marsh. We could see where the fire was going but we couldn’t figure out how to get to it all the time. So the Rangers really came into play too, the Can Ams that we have, to go out and get to that because we couldn’t take the pickups. We got two or three trucks stuck today and so it was really challenging.”
Carpenter says they’ve identified how the fire got started…
“It got started basically out of a compost pile of leaves the way it looked, most likely. I really want to thank Spirit Lake and Terril. Arnolds Park we left where they were to handle structure fires in case we had something, or a medical call. They could go each direction. They’re in the center. And Spirit Lake’s got the grass rigs to come help us with, so.”
Firefighters were on the scene several hours. Fire units from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also assisted. Carpenter says those units remained on the scene later into the evening to monitor hot spots.
The fire resulted in the temporary closure of 190th Street, or the landfill road, in that area. It has since re-opened to traffic.
No injuries were reported.
***UPDATE*** The Milford Fire Department was called back to the scene at 9:45 this (Thursday) morning after the fire reportedly re-kindled.
