Fire crews respond to pair of grass fires Sunday afternoon near Brookings, Watertown

April 20, 2020
Mike Tanner

BROOKINGS, S.D.–Dry conditions caused a couple of grass fires in the area on Sunday.

The Brookings Fire Department was called out to a grass fire just south of the city on 471st Avenue around 10:00 a.m.

The landowner was attempting to get into a field with his skid-steer loader and had stopped to open a gate when the loader caught fire and spread to some hay bales and farm equipment, including some grain wagons.

The skid steer was a total loss.

On Sunday afternoon, around 1:30 p.m., Watertown Fire Rescue was dispatched to a fire eight miles north of Watertown.

They spent more than an hour-and-a-half extinguishing a fire on an 80-acre wheat stubble field. They were assisted by local farmers and their tillage equipment.

The fire danger is high today. Low humidity levels and strong wings have prompted Red Flag Warnings to be posted for east central and southeast South Dakota. Wind gusts to 45 miles an hour are possible.