photo by Eric Johnson

A Brownsdale firefighter walks up to a line of fire with a portable water supply along 160th Street, south of Austin Thursday afternoon. Brownsdale was one of several departments to respond to a large grass fire along the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern railroad tracks between Lyle and Austin.

Area firefighters battle Austin-Lyle blaze

Grass fire battled into evening Thursday

By Eric Johnson (Contact) | Austin Daily Herald

Originally published 08:23 a.m., April 24, 2009
Updated 09:56 a.m., April 24, 2009

Several area fire departments responded to multiple grass fires that stretched in a line along the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern railroad line between Austin and Lyle Thursday afternoon.

According to the Mower County Sheriff’s Department, the cause of the fire, driven by strong southerly winds, is unknown, but indications possibly point to a train that had passed through the area are roughly the time the fire started at around 2 p.m.

Firefighters were still battling hotspots and monitoring the area into the night Thursday.

Several 911 calls reporting the fire placed the string of fires between County Roads 4 and 28. Initial responses centered on the Central Valley Co-op along County Road 4, just west of Highway 218.

Employees of the co-op were seen watering down their buildings and moving several anhydrous ammonia tanks. It was also used as a staging area.

According to Rob Bowe, who lives near where the fire swept past, the blaze came on fast.

Photo by Eric Johnson

A Rose Creek truck turns of County 4 as smoke from Thursday's grass fire south of Austin rises out of the treeline in the distance.

“I saw it on the (east) side of the railroad tracks and was going to call it in when I saw the fire department coming,” Bowe said. “It was just a big wall of flame.”

The fire’s path swept north along a four-mile stretch of the track from around County Road 22 at it’s southern end to just south of County Road 28.

Austin rural trucks along with Brownsdale, Rose Creek, Adams, Lyle, LeRoy, Grand Meadow, Mapleview, and London firefighters were deployed along the entire line battling the blaze.

Photo by Eric Johnson

Brownsdale firefighter Scott Hallan sprays water on a hotspot as other Brownsdale firefighters work on other hotspots Thursday afternoon, south of Austin near 160th Street. Brownsdale was one of several area departments including Austin who responded to grass fire spanning over a large area between Lyle and Austin along the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern railroad tracks.

Austin Police, the Mower County Sheriff’s Department, Frosty Miller of the Mapleview and Lyle police departments as well as a Mitchell County, Iowa, sheriff’s deputy assisted in traffic control.

No buildings were lost in the blaze, though it did press close to homes around Grandview Cemetery. A burn restriction has been placed on Mower County. People are allowed to have grills and bonfire’s only, and they have to be monitored at all times.

The restrictions will be in place until there is measurable rain.

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