By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
This week is Fire Prevention Week, and it’s a time for the fire safety officials to share important information for everyone about steps to take to be better prepared. Here in Northfield, Fire Chief Tom Nelson says the different events include the Fire Department’s Open House on Thursday evening and visits to the each of the elementary schools by the department:
silly things like don’t play with matches, but even cooking safety, and don’t cook without an adult around…. What we’ll cover and then do you have an evacuation plan? And the whole point is that the kids hopefully take that information home and say, okay, yeah, this is what we have to do as part of the family.” – Tom Nelson, Northfield Area Fire Chief on KYMN In The Morning
However, Northfield Fire had a busy weekend with several grass fires, driven and fueled by the dry and windy conditions. At one point on Saturday afternoon, the department was dealing with two grass fires on separate sides of town. Nelson noted that the dry fall created a dangerous time for farmers to be out in the fields harvesting.
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“A farmer, one of the owners of Fargaze, with his brother, he called me and said, well, you know, it doesn’t look too bad yet. Well, it didn’t take long before it got bad to the point where crews were worried it’s going to jump the Cabot Trail into standing corn across there.” – Tom Nelson, Northfield Area Fire Chief on KYMN In The Morning
Shortly after being dispatched to the first fire, a second call for a combine fire came south of town. Nelson stated that many farmers stepped up to help during fires to prevent them from spreading:
“What’s nice about those is that usually the farmers are mustered and they grab, hook up to a disc, and come out and help drag the disc around and give us a fire break.” – Tom Nelson, Northfield Area Fire Chief on KYMN In The Morning
During Saturday’s calls, Northfield Fire called for mutual aid assistance from Faribault Fire and Nerstrand Fire. No one was injured and the fires were stopped before major damage was done.
The Fire Department is offering opportunities for the whole family to learn more about fire prevention and safety at its annual open house on Thursday, October 9th, from 5 pm to 7 pm. Among the activities will be a car accident demonstration, training to use a fire extinguisher, and opportunities to see the fire department equipment up close, fire training demonstrations, and a helicopter fly-in.
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