(Radio Iowa) – Damage assessments are underway after a major field fire in Woodbury County forced the closure of Highway 20 between Lawton and Moville for several hours on Saturday. Drew Baier is director of Woodbury County Emergency Services.
“There are at least two homes that were destroyed completely (and) there were the outbuildings (burned),” he said. “We’ll start getting an account. We’ll go out and list and mark each location and get an idea where our totals are going to be like.” No major injuries have been reported. “It’s my understanding there was one minor civilian injury,” Baier said. “I’m not aware of any responder injuries at this time. Obviously, there was some equipment that broke down during the process.”
Firefighters from three states battled strong winds for hours Saturday to try to stop the grass fire from spreading. Evacuations were ordered in Woodbury County and in the Kingsley area when the fire spread to Plymouth County. “People need to heed the warning,” Baier said. “If it’s being put out to evacuate. That means go, not wait…think about it…It didn’t take long to cover this many miles this quickly.” Baier says due to the 40 mile an hour winds, it was not safe to drive through the area Saturday.
“Not only are you getting the smoke and the ash from the fire itself, but also being this dry out it also incorporates dust,” Baier said. “There were times the visibility you couldn’t really see your hand in front of your face at times. There was just that much wind, dirt, soot and smoke and everything else.” The Iowa State Patrol conducted an aerial survey Sunday to check for hot spots in the more than seven-mile long stretch that burned.
A county bridge over Deer Creek is closed due to heavy fire damage. A concrete bridge had light fire damage and crews will be inspecting and repairing secondary roads this week.
