New season brings out-of-control burns

As spring comes to Iowa farms, it brings with it the familiar sight of controlled field burns. The fires are used to prepare the land for the next year’s crops, but control of them can be easy to lose.

Since the start of spring, fire departments around Washington County have received 17 calls related to field fires according to emergency communication logs. Many of those calls happened on the same day and even the same hour as wind speeds exceeding eight miles per hour moved through the area.

"When they light a fire, it may be fine to burn right now, but in an hour the wind picks up and spreads it rather quickly,“ Washington Fire Chief Brendan DeLong said. ”I would say to make sure you’re monitoring the weather forecast, and make sure it’s nice and calm when you’re burning.“

DeLong said another key step in preparing for a controlled burn was calling the county dispatch center — its non-emergency number is 319-653-2107 — and giving them a heads up about the plan.

“That way people around you know, and it doesn’t get missed and called in,” he said. “They can put it on their map so … the fire department doesn’t get called out by mistake.”

Once the fire is burning, Ainsworth Fire Chief Waylon Schultz having enough people and proper tools was key.

“If they have the proper equipment, it’s about going around the outside edge, extinguishing that fire,” he said. “A lot of people, we’ll go to a call, and they’re out there with just a rake and a four-wheeler or something like that, and that’s not the proper equipment to do a burn … You’ve got to have a water source and a pump out there to be able to extinguish it if it gets out of control.”

If things do start to get out of hand, Schultz urged burners to err on the side of caution, and call 911 as soon as they had concerns.

“Don’t keep trying to battle it yourself,” he said. “The quicker that we can be there, the easier it is for us to get it under control and the safer everyone is. If it does get out of control and the fire department shows up … quit doing what you’re doing and get up by the road and everything else so we know you’re safe and (we) don’t have any injuries.”

Schultz said many departments in the county, (including his own) offered to run controlled burns themselves in exchange for donations.

“You can reach out to your local fire department if you have questions about how to do it, or if you should be doing it, or if you want them to come out and help,” he said. “It’s good practice for us, plus it helps the landowner out to get burnt what they need burnt.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com