CRESCENT, Iowa — First responders were busy responding to a large brush fire on Friday afternoon, that they suspect could have been caused by sparks flying off nearby train tracks.
The scene of large billows of smoke and flames spreading rapidly across farmlands in Crescent, Iowa, brought out at least six local agencies to tame the brush fire that blazed for over an hour.
3 News Now Meteorologist Chris Swaim says conditions were ideal for this kind of incident.
“The dew point is very low, that’s the level of moisture in the atmosphere and that creates ideal fire conditions," Swaim said. "We had strong winds. So any fire that got going, those winds acted like bellows almost, pumped the fire up and it runs out of control. Of course very hard to contain on a day like today.”
The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office tells us no one was injured in the fire, and no structures were affected.
They believe the fire could have started at the nearby train tracks, created by the sparks coming off the moving cars.
Swaim says especially on days like this when burn bans are in effect, fires can grow quickly and we need to be cautious.
"Hate that I have to say this too—you should never do this—but people flick their cigarette butts out the window, those can start fires quickly," Swaim said. "It's just not the day to do it.”
According to our partners at the Omaha World Herald, 80 acres of land were burned.
SEE MORE: Brush fire north of Crescent, Iowa visible from downtown Omaha
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