Wapello Fire and Rescue have been busy. A fire from Sunday continued into Monday afternoon, where they requested the assistance of the Morning Sun Fire Department.
Called to an area along US 61 north of Wapello, fire crews found that the high winds yesterday caused the fire from Sunday to grow. While contained to an area, fire crews worked tirelessly to ensure it did not spread to the adjacent grassland.
Fire crews remained on scene for approximately four hours. This fire will continue to burn in the timber and firefighters will continue to monitor the situation in an attempt to prevent the fire from spreading further. High winds and changing wind directions in the upcoming days could complicate these efforts.
While crews were on scene at the US 61 fire, an additional fire was reported in the area of Klum Lake Wildlife Management Area. Wapello Fire and Rescue was requested to respond for automatic mutual aid. An attack truck and a fire engine cleared the US 61 scene and arrived on scene to find a grassland area and wooded fencerow on fire. The high winds were causing the fire to rapidly spread into a wooded area. Fire crews quickly controlled the fire from further spreading into the densely wooded area. Additional crews from Grandview and Fruitland arrived on scene and assisted in extinguishing the remaining fire.
This fire was possibly caused by an improperly discarded cigarette. Wapello Fire crews cleared this scene and responded back to US 61 to assist the remaining crews on that scene. All units were back at base by 6:00 PM.
Conditions are extremely dry and it’s going to take a large precipitation event to change that. We are empathetic to those who need to perform prescribed land management burns but ask that you please avoid burning during periods of high winds or when high winds are forecast before your fire is completely extinguished.