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Field and grass fires are growing concern

Field and grass fires are a growing concern across extremely dry areas of the Midwest.

Dave Van Holland is the fire chief at Sioux Center in northwest Iowa.  He says they battled four field fires last week covering about 200 acres—and he’s grateful for the help they received from other farmers.

“We had one with 25 disks and another one with probably 16 tractors and disks,” Van Holland says. “So we’ve had our share of calls and our share of assistance from farmers, which is very, very welcome.”

Van Holland says conditions have been better this week, with less wind.  But he says they’re not out of the woods yet.

“Any time there’s a heavy wind, we’re in trouble—and the farmers have a lot of fields to take out yet,” he says. “So it’s going to be a long harvest.”

Van Holland encourages farmers to have a tractor and disc handy in case a fire does break out.