Downed power line sparks wildfire almost 2 miles long west of Orient

A downed power line is said to be the culprit of a wildfire that erupted across several farm fields west of Orient Friday afternoon.

The initial spark, first described as a ditch fire at about 2 p.m., led to a quickly-spreading blaze because of temperatures of 80 degrees, wind gusts close to 50 miles per hour and extremely dry conditions.

Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Cooper said when he got on scene, the fire had already jumped several roads, including the paved east-west road 310th Street just west of the Orient curve along Highway 25. The fire began somewhere north of the intersection of 320th Street and Marian Avenue but by about 30 minutes after the first call went out, the fire was exclusively north of 310th Street.

As the fire crossed 310th Street, it threatened two farmsteads on that road, one on the south side of the road and another on the north. Fire crews attempted to keep structures at that farmstead cooled however a vacant home and RV succumbed to the fast-moving fire. A camper on the property sustained damage but was saved.

“The property owner wasn’t too concerned about the house. At that point it didn’t look like it had gotten into the house at all,” Cooper said. “Come to find out, it did catch the roof and the inside of the house on fire. Firefighters started battling that along the way but there was just no stopping it because the wind was driving it so hard no matter how much water they were putting on that house.”

Visibility was next to nothing through the worst of the fire, which led to roads being closed in the area.

“Visibility was zero and even the firefighters said that when they were driving through the smoke they would look out the window and they couldn’t even seen the yellow or white line wherever they were,” Cooper said.

Orient firefighters were assisted by fire crews providing manpower, water tankers and grass rigs from Greenfield, Fontanelle, Bridgewater, Prescott and Creston. Several local farmers came to assist with tractors and discs to establish fire breaks designed to limit the fire from spreading. Adair County Ambulance was on scene for standby and the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Greenfield Police Department, Iowa State Patrol and Adair County Secondary Roads helped with traffic control.

Although the area received helpful rainfall over the weekend, this area remains very dry. Burn bans are in effect for many Iowa counties, including Adair and Guthrie counties.

“Rain we have coming will definitely help. This was a true testament to why the burn ban is enacted right now in Adair County. It’s a tinderbox right now. It’s very dangerous,” Cooper said. “You could talk to any one of those volunteer firefighters that were there and all of them would probably tell you it’s a very scary situation to deal with something like that.”

Orient Fire Chief Shawn Subbert said this is one of the worst field fires he remembers his department responding to and is thankful for all who helped extinguish it.

“Very special thanks goes to all the farmers who had discs that came. If they all wouldn’t have done what they did, it would have gone a lot farther. That helped tremendously,” Subbert said. “A very special thanks also goes to the many firefighters and first responders as well as whoever it was that brought treats out to the first responders.”