Area fire departments put in a busy week

RANDOLPH — Cedar County volunteer fire departments were kept busy last week but especially last Tuesday afternoon, responding to three different fires within a three-hour time span.

The first fire call came in at 1:37 p.m. for a grass fire near the Hartington airport.

Twenty-one from the city’s volunteer fire department responded to that call, said Fire Chief Mike Jueden. There was no major damage and no mutual aid needed, he said, with the fire starting from an individual grinding on metal that threw a spark.

Firefighters had just returned to the fire hall when the second call came in at 2:50 p.m. - this time for hay bales on fire at a barn north of the Bruce Wiebelhaus farm. All of the firefighters on the first call went out for this fire, including a few more that responded, Jueden said.

They arrived to a fully-engulfed fire.

“The farmer was working on a flatbed trailer, grinding on that, and some bales on the trailer caught fire and it just spread with the wind,” he said.

About 200 bales were lost along with a round baler and generator. The inside of the barn was completely destroyed as well, Jueden said.

Wynot and Fordyce fire departments were called in to assist, and neighbors brought equipment to help put the fire out, he said.

Another hour later, and another fire call came in - this time to a field south of Belden.

Firefighters were called out at about 3:45 p.m. and about 40 firefighters were on hand between Belden, Randolph, Laurel and Carroll volunteer fire departments, said Jim Scott, Randolph’s fire chief.

The fire started during the baling of cornstalks at a field farmed by Dave Loberg. The National Weather Service called in to the sheriff’s office as the fire

The National Weather Service called in to the sheriff’s office as the fire could be seen by its satellites.

“It was hectic for a while. It was spreading pretty fast,” Scott said, with the windy conditions spreading the fire to a nearby bean field.

The baler was a total loss as a result of the fire, he said.

Randolph firefighters were called away from their Thanksgiving celebrations Thursday afternoon to a power pole on fire.

At 3:18 p.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to the power pole fire south of Sholes at 862 Road and 562 Avenue. The power company was notified and the fire was out about 20 minutes later.

And at 6:15 a.m. Saturday, the Fordyce volunteer fire department responded to a hay bale fire that was spreading to a nearby bean field. The fire was extinguished and tankers back in the barn less than two hours later.