Field Fire

Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 12:57 PM

Logan City 911 Dispatch received a report of a fire in a haystack in the Cache Junction area, Cache County, and dispatched a working structure fire assignment for the call.

Units en-route to the incident could see a visible column of smoke, prompting the responding CCFD Chief to request a Tender Task Force assignment because there is no municipal hydrant water supply in this part of the county.

Once units arrived on scene it was determined that the fire was in a field near a haystack but the hay was not burning. The initial response units were structure engines as per the incident response plan for a working structure fire, but Newton did respond one brush truck to accompany their engine. Brush 50 began suppression work and additional personnel from Newton were able to respond in another brush truck.

Local farmers were also on scene quickly and were also able to assist in controlling the fire with the use of tractors pulling discs to quickly dig a line around the fire in the field.

3 of the tenders that were called for the Tender Task Force assignment remained on scene to assist in the mop-up work and to supply the brush trucks. A few utility poles were damaged by the fire and Rocky Mountain Power was called to the scene to assess the utility poles as well as a utility connection to an irrigation pump that was on the edge of the burned area.

Approximately 29 acres of the field were burned, with no extension to the haystack that was initially the concern.

The cause of the fire is under investigation at this time.

Pictures:

Newton Asst. Chief Curtis Larsen and FF Reid Smith standing by while CCFD officers and Chief Jorgensen investigate at the point of origin.

Richmond’s tender crew standing by; CCFD Chief Hammer in the background. Newton units responding: Engine 50, Brush 50 and Brush 51. Auto and mutual aid for this incident from: Engine 10; Engine 130; Tender 40 and Fire 400; Tender 30; Tender 20 and Air 20; Tender 70; 3A220 and 3A222.

CCFD Asst. Chief/Fire Warden Craig Pettigrew visiting with the Rocky Mountain Power representative who was there to assess the damage to the utility poles and other electrical equipment.

Fire, Other

Tuesday, August 21 at 9:34 PM

Dispatch received a report of a bonfire next to a bridge in Cache Junction with persons at that location jumping from the bridge into the Bear River. Newton Fire was paged by dispatch to respond to the report of a fire in a fire restricted area.

Engine 50 and Brush 50 from Newton Fire responded with 3A222 of the Cache County Fire District. The fire was located next to a Union Pacific railroad bridge where the bridge crosses the Bear River, some distance from State Road 23 in Cache Junction and down a dirt road along the railroad right of way.

Brush 50 responded down the dirt road towards the railroad bridge and found several vehicles parked along the tracks and a large group of people also along the tracks between the bridge and the cars. It appeared that the fire had been mostly extinguished, but with the large number of vehicles and persons involved on private property posted as no trespassing, Engine 50’s crew continued in to assist until law enforcement could arrive.

When a CCSO Deputy arrived and had discussed the matter with CCFD and Newton Fire personnel, the Deputy made contact with the persons in the party and further advised them of the fire restrictions as well as their unauthorized access to the posted railroad right of way. The Deputy invited the group to leave the area and encouraged them not to return.

One of the persons involved had received a laceration to her foot while walking from the bridge towards the vehicles. The laceration was treated by Newton EMS personnel already on scene and she was released at the scene, no transport to a hospital was necessary.

When all of the persons in the group had left the scene all fire and law enforcement personnel cleared.

Mutual Aid for a Haystack Fire

Friday, August 17 at 12:48 AM

***For official media inquiries, contact Smithfield Fire or the Cache County Fire District or see the press release on the Cache Fire and Emergency Update Site.

Smithfield fire and automatic aid companies were paged to respond to the report of a grass fire endangering structures in Benson. Responding units found a haystack was heavily involved and began suppression efforts.

Engine 50 of Newton Fire was requested by command as part of a call for additional units and was paged to respond. A few minutes later command requested a tender task force be assigned to the incident and Tender 50 was included on the first alarm tender task force units for this call.

Tender 50 and Engine 50 arrived with the other mutual aid companies and both of Newton’s units were assigned to water supply. Engine 50 setup a fill location at a hydrant a short distance from the fire and assisted in filling the tenders that were shuttling water to the scene.

When the overhaul of the salvageable hay was winding down water supply shifted from the tender shuttle operation to a hose lay from a hydrant directly to the scene and the tender task force companies were released.

Pictures:

A picture of the fire at 1:36 AM after Engine 50 and other units had arrived and were waiting assignment.

Engine 50 was assigned to support the tender task force units by managing the filling location to recycle tenders as quickly as possible. In this picture Newton FF Ray Wickham monitors the water level in Tender 50 during a stop at the filling location.

Newton fire fighter Reid Smith connects an adapter to a hose at the water supply fill location as the haystack fire burns in the background.

Tender 40 has just reached tank capacity during one stop at the tender task force filling location. 6 tenders were used to shuttle water from this fill location to the scene, with Engine 50 assisting the fill operation at a hydrant a short distance from the fire.

Picture of the fire at 5:28 AM when overhaul was mostly complete and the tender task force units were being released from their water supply assignment. A large pile of hay that was not salvageable continues to burn.

After sunrise the bales that could not be salvaged continue to smolder and will likely burn for most of the day.

Fire, Other

Saturday, August 11, 2012 at 9:34 PM

Dispatch received a report of a fire at Newton Reservoir in an area where fire restrictions are in place. Newton Fire and the duty officer of the CCFD were dispatched to investigate.

Brush 50, Brush 51, Tender 50 and 3A220 responded. Units arriving located a fire on the east side of Newton Reservoir, as well as two fires at campgrounds on the west side of the reservoir.

Fire units and Sheriff’s Deputies made contact with the persons at these locations and advised them that fire restrictions have not been lifted for these private lands in unincorporated Cache County.

The persons contacted by responding units extinguished their fires and all units cleared.