TRAILL COUNTY, ND – Five fire departments battled a a pair of field fires Wednesday in Traill County.
The Traill County Sheriff’s Office says they were alerted to a farm field on fire at just after 2 p.m. southwest of Hillsboro. The reporting party said the fire was contained but they wanted to notify the sheriff’s office in case any further calls were received.
Sheriff Steve Hunt said the department received at least two more calls about the fire – one from the Hillsboro Medical Center concerned about the amount of smoke drifting into the City.
Less than 20 minutes after the initial call, the reporting party said the fire had jumped the road and requested fire crews.
The fire was started by a combine harvesting beans in the field. The fire traveled a total of a mile and a half, burning ditches in a tree row and approximately 60 acres of beans.
Responders from fire departments in Hillsboro, Grandin/Gardner, Hunter, Halstad and Hendrum were paged and responded, as well as the Shelly Fire Department, who was canceled while in route. Hillsboro Ambulance and the Traill County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
Farmers used their tractors and tillage equipment to work the ground around the fire to eliminate any dry foliage.
A second fire was reported at before 5 p.m. near Mayville. The fire damaged a combine and authorities say the crops were spared.
Fire crews from Mayville and Portland, along with West Traill Ambulance and the sheriff’s office responded.
No one was injured in either fire.
