Farmers fight back — with manure
Published 10:17 am Friday, October 7, 2011
Blooming Prairie firefighters discuss stradegy in attacking a field fire on Mower County Road 26 just west of 218 North Thursday afternoon. - Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Farmers north of Austin don’t take crap — not even from fire.
When a cornfield fire broke out on Mower County Road 26 west of U.S. Highway 218 on Thursday, farmers helped firefighters contain the burning brush by spreading a perimeter of manure around it, according to Sheriff Terese Amazi.
A Blooming Prairie firefighter puts water on the smoldering grass alongside of Mower County Road 26, north of 281 Thursday. The fire was part of a larger field fire. - Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
Blooming Prairie Fire Department responded to the fire around 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Amazi said the fire spread quickly from a field on the south side of County Road 26 to another field on the north side due to wind gusts up to 30 mph.
Farmers in both fields also used tractors to till the dirt and snuff out the fire.
The fire started in a combine, but the combine was not damaged, Amazi said. Nobody was injured, but two acres of corn were lost in the blaze. The rest of the damage was to already harvested land.
