A week ago, heavy rains caused delays for many Iowa farmers who were eager to get to work on the harvest but the soil was too soggy. Now, the weather’s warm and dry and the combines are rolling, but field fires are becoming the big concern. Firefighter Wes Baddeley (BAD-lee), with the Gruver (GROOVE-uhr) Fire Department in northwest Iowa’s Emmet County, says combines kick up a lot of dust and that can quickly become a problem with hot machinery.
Baddeley says farmers should do a thorough scan of their combines and other heavy equipment before heading into the field.
He says it’s a lot harder for firefighters to tackle a fire in a standing crop than it is to knock down a few flames across some soybean stubble or corn stalks.
