ONAWA, Iowa (KCAU) — Almost every fire department in the county was called in to assist with a large wild fire that started in Moorhead, about 15 miles southeast of Onawa.
The Monona County Sheriff’s Office told KCAU 9 that three grass fires broke out Wednesday. The first happened around 7 a.m. and the second around 11:30 a.m. Fire crews were also called around 2:30 p.m. to a rural area west of Moorhead for another.
Dry vegetation and high winds helped the fire to spread quickly across many acres of land.
One location has since been extinguished near the area of 230th Street and Peach Avenue, southeast of Castana. Another fire broke out east of Onawa around Mango Avenue and 220th Street. That fire was still active as of 5:50 p.m., the sheriff’s office said. The fire near Moorhead was also still active.
All fire departments in Monona County were called as well as the Decatur, Neb., fire department, and the Iowa DNR. Firefighters have worked nonstop, without breaks to get the fire under control.
“In fact, we started off early this morning with a fire out-off of K-42 and that started our day,” said Chief Adam Sutton with the Onawa Fire Department, “Then, we had the hill fire that we assisted with Moorhead Fire and then this came in and now we’re heading out there. So, unfortunately, there is no break for volunteers.
Mapleton Mayor Brent Streck posted on Facebook that smoke from the fire was reaching his community. Much of Siouxland, including Monona County is under a red flag burn warning, which means that outside burning is not recommended. However, Monona County is not in a burn ban at this time.
This is a developing story. KCAU 9 has a crew on the scene and will update as we learn more.
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KCAU 9 Reporter Tyler Euchner contributed to this story.