A corn crib burns on Sunday, Oct. 20, at Levi and Shelby Weuve’s rural Garwin/Carlton Township property. Several area fire departments including Garwin, Gladbrook, and Toledo responded to the blaze which subsequently sparked several other fires nearby including in a bean stubble field a quarter mile away. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Editor’s note: After this story went to press, a burn ban went into effect for Tama County on Friday, Oct. 25, at 5 p.m.

A severe absence of moisture this fall has been sparking a lot of work for area first responders.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of Thursday, Oct. 17, both Tama and Grundy counties were in moderate drought – ‘D1’ on a scale from D0 to D4. Combine that with sustained high winds, low humidity, and above average temperatures, and the recipe for wildland fires taking off across fields is complete.

“We haven’t had a meaningful rain since August,” Gladbrook Fire and Rescue training officer Craig Sash told the newspaper this past week. “​​Unseasonably high temps, extremely low humidity, and 20-40 mph winds this year have sucked the moisture out of everything. Unfortunately that day we had all those [elements which] created a massive fire.”

The fire Sash references started around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 13, northwest of Lincoln and east of Hwy T-47/Q Avenue near the Tama-Grundy county line. According to a responding deputy with the Tama County Sheriff’s Department, “The fire was started by a cutting torch in a farm field fixing a piece of equipment that caught the ground on fire. High winds pushed the fire through fields.”

A fire-blackened field just north of the Tama-Grundy county line near Lincoln pictured on Sunday, Oct. 20. Six area fire departments responded to the Sunday, Oct. 13 fire in the field which started after some corn stalks were accidentally ignited. Dry conditions, sustained high winds, low humidity, and above average temperatures have been fueling wildland fires in both Tama and Grundy counties this fall. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Sash said fighting the large fire required multiple departments along with the assistance of several area farmers.

“[The] property owner was working on a semi in a combined corn field and a heat source ignited the stalks. It took roughly three hours to bring the fire under control,” Sash said. “Thankfully the fire was contained to ground that was already harvested so no buildings or homes were damaged; however, we had great concern with several hundred acres of unharvested corn directly downwind. As a precaution, one or two homes were evacuated by the Tama County Sheriff’s Department.”

While the fire started just inside the Reinbeck Fire Department’s territory, Sash said the initial page sounded like it might be in Gladbrook’s territory.

“Tama County Dispatch paged both departments simultaneously which is perfect because on a fire like that it doesn’t matter whose territory it is, if you’re close, you’re going.”

Responding fire departments included Reinbeck, Gladbrook, Grundy Center, Holland, Traer, and Beaman as well as Tama County EMA and at least two deputies.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE REINBECK FIRE DEPARTMENT/FACEBOOK

“Many farmers showed up [as well] with tractors and tillage tools to help get it under control,” Sash added. “Without that assistance, the damage would have been greater.”

Sash said the Oct. 13 fire was Gladbrook’s fourth or fifth fire fought just this fall – and it was big.

“As far as wildland fires go, this one ranks right up there at the top.”

Corn crib near Garwin catches fire

One week after the Tama-Grundy line fire, another significant fire broke out along Hwy T-47, but this time squarely in Tama County at the rural Garwin/Carlton Township property of Levi and Shelby Weuve who live north of the T-47/E-27 intersection at the top of a hill.

Volunteer firefighters with Gladbrook Fire and Rescue respond to the rural Garwin property of Levi and Shelby Weuve located along Hwy T-47 on Sunday, Oct. 20, after a corn crib erupted in flames due to a possible electrical fire. The structure burned quickly in the high winds and was a complete loss. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Shortly before noon on Sunday, Oct. 20, an old corn crib located mere feet behind the Weuves’ house erupted in flames, sending a dark black cloud of smoke to the east. The fire burned precariously close to both a cell tower and the county’s emergency/law enforcement radio tower located downhill of the Weuve property.

“The cause of the [Weuve] fire is undetermined to my knowledge but appears to have originated in the corn crib which was a total loss,” Sash said on Sunday evening in an email. “The house did receive siding damage from the heat but was not damaged otherwise. Embers blew from the initial fire into a heavily wooded/brushy dry creek bed starting several small fires which were difficult to access [and] extinguish due to the heavy brush growth.”

Sash said embers from the burning corn crib also started another field fire in bean stubble roughly a quarter mile away.

“The ultra dry conditions make fire spread very easy and likely. The initial call we were there for two to two-and-a-half hours, [but] I know Garwin went back later and I think Toledo did as well.”

While Tama County Sheriff’s deputies were the first to arrive on scene that afternoon, three Garwin Fire Department trucks arrived shortly thereafter followed by Gladbrook Fire and Rescue and the Toledo Fire Department.

“[The fire] was Garwin’s call,” Sash said. “Toledo and Gladbrook were both called immediately for mutual aid [because], as I’ve said before, we are all short on manpower.”

This past Monday on Facebook, Shelby Weuve’s mother Kara Swaim said the fire was “electrical” and that the structure was not insured.

“[Shelby] lost [a lot] of personal items,” Swaim wrote alongside a Venmo link (@Kara-Swaim) for those who want to help the Weuves with their loss.

Fire prevention

While Tama County is currently not under a burn ban, Sash said there are several safety precautions area residents including farmers can take to hopefully avoid starting fires this season.

“As dry as it is, avoid open burning. Regularly inspect machinery, get out of the seat, walk around, and look things over. We all get what some of us like to call ‘velcro a$$’ …It’s been a long harvest with no down days, and I’m as guilty as anyone – take time to inspect things.”

Sash also said until Tama and Grundy counties receive “substantial moisture” – the sprinkles some areas received this past Tuesday are not going to cut it – conditions will not improve and fire danger will remain high. But, he added, thankfully there are volunteers ready and willing to answer the call when the next wildland fire invariably breaks out.

“I would like to thank all those that came to help [fight the Tama-Grundy line fire],” Sash said. “From the firefighters from every surrounding community who put their day, their families, and their own harvest on hold, to the farmers who showed up with tractors and tillage tools that parked their machines for a few hours to help – that is what being in a small community is about.”