While other counties in southwest Iowa have elected to issue a ban on open burning, Cass County will not being doing so at this time. The was the consensus of the fire chiefs who attended the Cass County Fireman’s Association meeting Thursday night, in Marne. Cass County Emergency Management Director Mike Kennon says a ban on open outdoor burning won’t be necessary if people use common sense. He says for the most parts area residents have acted responsibly, and if they continue to act responsibly, the County will refrain from issuing a burn ban.

Acting responsibly means planning ahead before you conduct any outdoor burning. Kennon says residents should check the weather forecast to make sure the winds won’t be strong, call your local fire chief to confirm the time and place of the intended burn. You also need to call the Cass County Communications Center at 243-2204 well ahead of time, so they know not to send out fire crews and equipment when they receive calls from the public fearing a fire is out of control.

Even though there is no burn ban currently in effect in Cass County, Kennon and the area Fire Chiefs are urging residents not to burn for the next couple of days because conditions are expected to be dry and windy. Once a fire is lit, according to Kennon, it needs to be attended to and monitored even when you think it has been extinguished.

He said some of the larger brush piles can burn for days, so to can’t just walk away. They need to be monitored closely.

A wildfire spread quickly across an open field in northwest Iowa on Thursday afternoon, charring about 50 acres of farmland along the border of Plymouth and Sioux counties. Six fire departments responded. Le Mars Fire Chief Dave Schipper says a spark from a passing freight train is thought to have started the fire.

(Radio Iowa – photo)

Chief Schipper says, “I don’t know if it was a bearing or a brake that they threw and it sparked or the wheels on the rail itself, but it appears right there at 100th Avenue and the train tracks is where this started from the train, and with the winds, spread west and south and north as fast as it wanted to until we put a stop to it.” Train traffic had to be halted temporarily as crews doused the fires. Schipper says the gusting winds and the thawing ground made for challenging conditions.

We were out there a couple of hours, six fire departments, 40-plus firefighters,” he says. “These types of days with the wind and the dryness of conditions, a couple of the other towns had trucks get stuck. It’s dry on top, but the frost is coming up and it’s just mud. It makes it very difficult to fight these types of fires.” At least five Iowa counties, all in the southwest, enacted bans on open burning this week due to dry conditions.

(Radio Iowa)

A large hog barn was destroyed by fire early this (Friday) morning in northwest Iowa’s Plymouth County, wiping out a herd of 350 pigs.

Photo courtesy Radio Iowa

The blaze hit Jordan Dirksen’s two-story barn near Oyens) about 2 A-M. Oyens Fire Chief Brian Juhl says as soon as fire crews got to the scene, they knew they had their hands full. “When we arrived, we had fire visibly showing and coming out of the second floor which was full of straw,” Chief Juhl says. “Also, when we opened it up, we had fire on the main floor.” The Le Mars fire department also responded.

Firefighters tried to save the 70-year-old barn, but Juhl says they soon learned their efforts were futile.  “When we first got on scene, we were trying to see if we could knock it down quick but it didn’t take long for us to realize we’re not going to be able to knock it down with it being full of straw up in the loft,” he says. “We went on the defensive, trying to control how it burns.” The fire was kept from a propane tank and after about two hours, the barn collapsed. No human injuries are reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Atlantic report an Cass County woman wanted on Decatur County warrants for Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, has turned herself-in to police, Thursday. 20-year old Taylor Short, of Anita, was booked into the Cass County Jail and held pending an appearance in front of the magistrate.

And, 30-year old Daniel Long, of Atlantic, was arrested Thursday on a Cass County warrant for Failure to Appear on a 2nd degree Theft charge. Long was booked into the Cass County Jail.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers says he’s been getting several inquiries from citizens about the Page County Burn Ban that was put into effect earlier this week. Brothers says the City of Clarinda’s Ordinance states that during a burn ban the only type of burning allowed is:

OUTDOOR COOKING FIRES. Outdoor Cooking fires (barbecue grills) burning common cooking fuels such as natural and/or LP gas or charcoal being use for the cooking of food for human consumption are permitted, but that open ground fire pits cannot be used. Any other type of open burning is strictly prohibited and absolutely no recreational fires are allowed.

w/ Ric Hanson

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A teenaged driver from Glenwood died at a hospital in Omaha following a crash Thursday night in Mills County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 17-year old Tanner Porter, who was wearing his seat belt, died at the University of Nebraska Medical Center after being flown from the scene of the crash off of 221st Street.

Authorities say Porter was traveling south on 221st Street  in a 1997 Dodge pickup at around 8:15-p.m., when the vehicle left the road to the right and went out of control. The pickup rolled several times and hit a power pole before coming to rest in the west ditch.

A pair of national hunting organizations is announcing plans to hold their annual joint expo in Iowa next year. Des Moines is the 2015 host for the National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic. Rehan Nana is a spokesman for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.  “Iowa has a great outdoor heritage and this is our third time we’re going to be in Iowa for National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic,” Nana says. “It’s the only city we’ve been in three times and we had such a great time the past two, we want to make it back for number three.”

It was a natural move to return to the Hawkeye State for the event, he says, as Iowa has more chapters of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever than any other state — 104 chapters — with some 20-thousand members. “If you’re a pheasant hunter, if you’re an outdoors person at all, this is the best show for you,” Nana says. “Really from wild game cooking to bird dogs to habitat conservation and habitat management, all things under the sun.” Last month, Milwaukee hosted this year’s show. Des Moines last hosted the show in 2010. At that event, U-S Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Conservation Reserve Program general signup #39. That C-R-P effort has served as one of the U-S-D-A’s most successful conservation programs.

Nana says a significant sum of money has been invested in wildlife habitat projects in Iowa through the years. “Since 1985, there’s been over $45-million spent in Iowa based on all of our chapters’ efforts for over 111,000 habitat projects. That’s more than 1.1-million acres for wildlife there.” The event is planned for Iowa’s capitol city February 20-22 of 2015. Learn more at the website: www.pheasantfest.org

(Radio Iowa)

Police in Red Oak arrested 23-year old Devin Alexander Davis, of Red Oak, late Thursday night. Davis was taken into custody a residence in the 700 block of north Broadway Street, on a valid Montgomery County warrant charging him with Violation of his probation. Davis was being held in the Montgomery County jail on $15,000 cash bond.