Shelby County Emergency Management officials report 2300th Street will be closed while a bridge is being replaced with a culvert. The bridge is located one-quarter of a mile west of County Road M-16 on 2300th Street, over an unnamed tributary of Moser Creek. It is located between Union Townships 17 & 18.

Work on the project will begin March 31st and continue for about six-to eight-weeks. Emergency responders and residents should plan for alternate routes to homes in the area. For more information, call the Shelby County Engineer’s Office at 712-755-5954.

COUNTIES: MILLS-MONTGOMERY-FREMONT-PAGE–
1232 PM CDT FRI MAR 21 2014

…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR
    WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND
    SOUTHWEST IOWA…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA/VALLEY HAS ISSUED A RED
FLAG WARNING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY…WHICH IS IN
EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING.

* WINDS…NORTHWEST 20 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 MPH.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AS LOW AS 15 TO 25 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS…VEGETATION IS VERY DRY ACROSS THE AREA. WITH LOW
RELATIVE HUMIDITY…GUSTY WINDS…AND DRY FUELS…FIRES CAN
IGNITE AND SPREAD QUICKLY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW…OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS…LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AND WARM TEMPERATURES CAN
CONTRIBUTE TO EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR.

Sheriff’s officials in Cass County report the arrest this (Friday) morning of a Council Bluffs man. 21-year old Brandon Adam Fredericksen, was taken into custody on a District Court warrant for Failure to Appear for Child Support Hearing. Fredericksen was taken to the Cass County Jail and held on $2000 bond.

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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