County sees increased grass fires this spring, risk is diminishing

When a 50-acre brush fire broke out at an Iowa Department of Natural Resources nature preserve west of Colfax April 5, it was too far into wooded terrain for traditional fire trucks to travel, so Mingo Fire Department volunteers had to bring special tools into service.

The Mingo department has access to an all-terrain vehicle owned by the Jasper County Sheriff’s office, retrofitted with a 100-foot hose and 50-gallon water tank. According to Sheriff John Halferty, the unit was purchased with drug forfeiture funds in 2014, and was the first such vehicle to be stationed in western Jasper County. Mingo volunteer firefighter and county conservation officer Jerry Ratliff said if responders had not had access to the vehicle, the April 5 fire would have been nearly impossible to fight.

“We had three trucks stuck, three full sized attackers stuck, and these were the only units we had for quite some time out there,” Ratliff said. “We would have never got back to them.”

Multiple fire departments in western Jasper and eastern Polk Counties responded to the blaze around 6:30 p.m. between the intersection of South 28th Avenue West and West 124th Street South and the South Skunk River, three miles west of Colfax.

Colfax, Mingo, Mitchellville and Prairie City fire departments fought the fire for nearly three hours and were still extinguishing hot spots after sunset. Colfax Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Bruxvoort said an ignition source has yet to be pinpointed and will be difficult to isolate.

A string of grass and prairie fires ignited this spring keeping local fire departments busy. Prairie City Fire Department Chief Ryan VanderKamp said his department has already seen 15 this year, including two last weekend south of Prairie City.

VanderKamp said the number of grass and brush fires is higher than in past seasons. Some, he said, are controlled burns that grow faster than anticipated while others start from a non-intentional source.

Prairie City has the added resource conservation crew assistance from the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge if area fire crews need backup with prairie burns. A recent fire on Vandalia Road south of Prairie City extended for 1.5 miles, VanderKamp said, and it threatened to encroach on refuge land.

But when fighting grass fires, VanderKamp sees his biggest asset as area farmers with field disk equipment. The machine used to churn topsoil can also be pulled along a fire line to essentially remove a fire’s fuel to progress further.

Wildlife habitat is not the only thing at risk during these types of fires. Tom Wilson is a representative for MidAmerican Energy. He thanked Colfax firefighters Monday at the Colfax City Council meeting, specifically for saving transmission lines during the April 4 brush fire.

“We have a 345,000 volt transmission line that goes through there. It’s really one of our main transmission lines,” he said. “How the grass fire started last week, I have no idea. But I really got very nervous because it got awfully close to the 345 structure. When I talked to my control center, that was the one line in the state of Iowa that night we could not loose.”

Although fires have been more widespread this year, experts say the risk is diminishing. Kevin Skow is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines. Due to recent precipitation and greening of the state’s grasses, Skow said the risk for prairie and brush fires is reducing. According to Skow, the last statewide red flag, or no burning warning was issued April 5. In Jasper County, April 1 was the last time people were prohibited from burning trash, yard west or conducting controlled burns.

But Skow said some native grasses are still a bit dry, and the threat of fires could still exist on days with sustained moderate to strong winds.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@jaspercountytribune.com