Fire departments were kept busy on Saturday fighting a 10 to 15-acre wheat stubble fire south of Patoka, another five-acre wheat stubble fire north of Sandoval, and a fire that destroyed a small shed west of Sandoval.
Patoka Fire received the first call of the wheat stubble fire on the Janet Thalman property at the Wisher and Bolen Road intersection just before noon. An arcing power line is believed to have dropped some sparks into the wheat stubble starting the fire that came within 100 feet of a home. Patoka Fire Chief Blake Hyde says the fire was fast-moving but fortunately stopped when it hit the roadside ditch on Wisher Road. Sandoval and Odin Firemen provided mutual aid assistance.
As firemen were wrapping up the Patoka Fire, another wheat stubble fire started on property Dwight Snyder was farming on Fairman Road north of Sandoval. Snyder was bailing straw when a bearing went bad and ignited some of the wheat field. He was able to drive the baler out of the way of the fire, but the blaze burned about five acres before being put out. Sandoval received mutual aid from Huey-Boulder-Ferrin, Odin, Centralia Fire Protection District, and Patoka Firemen.
As Huey-Boulder-Ferrin firemen were returning to their station, they discovered a small shed totally engulfed in flames on the TJ ‘Gail’ Speiser property on Wortman Road northeast of Sandoval. The 10 by 20-foot building was already on the ground. The fire apparently spread from trash being burned in a burn barrel. Sandoval received mutual aid assistance from Huey-Boulder-Ferrin and Centralia City Firemen at that fire.
Salem Firemen moved an engine to the Odin Fire Department in the event of another fire in the Odin, Sandoval, Patoka area.
The burned off field after the fire north of Sandoval.
