Mutual Aid to a Grass Fire
On 04/10/2006, at 1720 hours, the Miller FD was paged to give mutual aid on a large grass fire.
The grass has just started to green up here, but last year's dead grass is dry and there was some wind on that day. If it had been a little warmer and earlier in the day, this fire could have been really big.
The fire was located 33 miles from Miller, near the town of Polo. That is a long haul when you are looking at a big smoke column from a fast moving grass fire.
We responded with three brush trucks and two engines with a total of 10 firefighters. The Polo Fire Department had all of their apparatus there. I think they had two engines and one brush truck. Some civilians responded with two ATVs outfitted with weed spraying equipment that they used to spray water. A 6,000 gallon water truck owned by a nearby farmer also was there to refill fire trucks. The Hand County Deputy Sheriff was there as well.
The fire was started by a rubbish pile that had been burned two weeks before the outbreak of the grass fire. The wind apparently blew embers from the remains of the rubbish pile into the dry grass. The fire was approximately 1.75 miles long and averaged somewhere around 400 yards wide. Total area is approximately 255 acres.
We were back in service in Miller by 2130 hours.
If I can get some pictures from some of the responding units, I'll post them.
