The Sanborn Fire Department dealt with not one, but two fires on the afternoon of February 29. According to Assistant Chief Jerry Back, Sanborn Fire was paged out at 4:00 p.m. for a field fire on the south side of Sanborn. The fire started from the old tree dump that rekindled up with the strong winds. When crews arrived, the fire had spread quickly with the wind. Firefighters started attacking the fire with multiple trucks and with the help of Farmers Coop Society’s payloaders.

This Aerial View Looking South Shows The Burned Area With The Dump In The Background. In The Foreground Are Some Of The FCS Facilities And The Sanborn Electrical Substation. – Photo Courtesy Of Dan Gottschalk.

Several Area Towns Provided Mutual Aid At The Field Fire.

One Of The Sanborn Trucks

Firefighters From Hartley Assist In Extinguishing A February 29 Field Fire On Sanborn’s South Side. Visible Through The Smoke Are Grain Bins From Both Farmers Coop Society And Hartog Elevator.

Fire Left This Garage A Total Loss.

This Garage Fire South Of Iowa State Bank Drew Firefighters Away From The Field Fire. – Photo Courtesy Of Dan Gottschalk.

At 4:22 p.m. the Department was again paged out, this time to 208 W. 5th Street in Sanborn for a garage fire possibly spreading to a house. At this point the firefighters had to split their efforts and three trucks went to the garage fire. Sanborn Fire paged for mutual aid from Sheldon and Hartley to the garage fire and from Primghar to assist with the field fire. When Hartley arrived, they were sent to the field fire as Sanborn Fire had the garage fire contained and Sheldon was there to assist.
Around 5:30 p.m. the field fire was out. Firefighters worked on hot spots and sent all departments home around 6:00 p.m.
The garage is considered a total loss with no damage to the house.
Sanborn Fire would like to thank all the area departments that came and assisted them on a very windy day.