Fire spreads across an Oneida Township bean field in the process of being harvested last Friday, Sept. 29 near Clutier. Several area fire departments including Clutier as well as local farmers responded to the large fire which took off quickly due to the intense drought conditions and high winds. PHOTO BY DAVE DEGNER

CLUTIER – The Clutier, Dysart, and Traer fire departments were able to successfully respond last Friday to a large field fire that ignited northeast of Clutier during harvest.

Oneida Township resident Dave Degner, who lives in the 2300 block of V Avenue, said he was out watering some trees while farmer Eric Anniss was combining on a field nearby when he suddenly noticed smoke.

“The field was just north of my acreage,” Degner told the Telegraph in a series of text messages over the weekend. “Eric was running the combine and [his dad] Ernie was in the grain cart. … I saw smoke in the field and waved but he didn’t see me. I jumped in the loader tractor and headed out thinking I could knock it down. But by the time I got there, there were three or four small fires – something on the combine was hot and spreading it, and the south wind was too much.”

In less than 10 minutes, Degner estimates the fire easily spread half a mile across the bone-dry field of beans, moving ever close to the nearby farmstead of Justin Hosek.

Currently, the Clutier area is experiencing D4 drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor on Sept. 28. The area is part of a bullseye of “exceptional drought” centered over the eastern half of Tama County and the western half of Benton County.

Trucks from the Clutier Fire Dept. pictured last Friday while responding to a fire that ignited in a bean field northeast of Clutier as it was being harvested. PHOTO BY DAVE DEGNER

The drought in these two counties is some of the worst in the state.

After spotting the fire, Degner said he tried to help put it out with five-gallon buckets of water and his “little tractor” but the effort proved futile.

Thankfully, emergency services were contacted and both the Clutier and Dysart volunteer fire departments showed up shortly after the fire started.

“Clutier [Fire] showed up first with one truck, then Dysart [Fire] showed with several trucks. Within a few minutes, there were three other farmers here with tractors and discs working to slow it down,” Degner recalled. “Traer [provided mutual aid] and started a mile north at the next gravel trying to keep it from hitting Hosek’s house.”

All told, Degner said there were close to 10 trucks responding from among the three fire departments. Dysart Ambulance also responded as did two Tama County Sheriff’s deputies and several farmers with tractors and water tanks.

Current drought conditions courtesy of the U.S. Drought Monitor. Much of Tama County (black box) including where the field fire took place last Friday is now in a D4 drought.

“[It] still took a good 45 minutes to put out,” Degner said. “I’d say it cooked probably 20 or 30 acres.”

As it burned, the fire managed to clip its way north to the very edge of Hosek’s farmstead located on 230th Street between U and V avenues.

“It made it to his fence but luckily they got it out in time. So, no buildings and no equipment was lost,” Degner said.

Although fires during the harvest season are not necessarily uncommon, the drought is creating a tinder box of sorts on the fields this year.

“It’s somewhat normal for fires during harvest,” Traer Fire Chief Tyler Sell told the Telegraph following the fire, “but the exceptionally dry conditions will make it worse by allowing fire to spread quicker and easier.”

A section of the fire’s aftermath viewed from 230th Street looking south on Monday. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Conditions that are making rural, volunteer fire departments like Clutier, Dysart, and Traer all the more important this harvest season.

The aftermath of the field fire that took place last Friday, Sept. 29 northeast of Clutier near the acreage of Dave Degner. Looking south from 230th Street on Monday, burned sections of the field were still visible including where the fire jumped the creek (green waterway) as it approached 230th Street. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER