Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
The Kimball Volunteer Fire Department responded to a ground hay fire west of Kimball at the Byron Wilke place late Sunday afternoon.
Shortly before 3:30 p.m. on a windy Sunday afternoon, the Kimball Volunteer Fire Department and Bushnell Fire Department were called out to Byron and Amber Wilke's place about 10 miles west of Kimball where ground hay caught fire shortly after being ground. By 9 p.m. the fire was out and the firemen returned home.
Byron said that he had just completed grinding about 60 bales of hay and was preparing to go to another pile to grind more hay when the fire started. They lost about 60 bales of ground hay plus 36 bales of straw, but there was no injury and no equipment was lost.
Wilke said, "At least it was just hay and we didn't lose anything else. You can buy hay and equipment, but nobody got hurt and it could have been a lot worse."
Eventually the ground hay was loaded into a manure truck and spread on some fields and then the fire departments used their ground rigs to spray it down.
Both Amber and Byron Wilke were especially grateful and appreciative of the fire departments, Kimball and Bushnell, and of course their neighbors for helping. Wilke said Marty Lukassen brought in some ground hay so that he didn't have to grind again on Sunday. Wasielewskis and other neighbors also were there to help the Wilkes out.
– Daria Anderson-Faden
