Weekend fires plague region

Rural Williston was not alone in facing a series of fires this past weekend as flames were seen shooting out of in pastures and crop lands near Wildrose, Tioga and Crosby.

WILDROSE

Wildrose firefighters saw nearly 500 acres of grassland and a limited amount of durum go up in flames during three flare-ups of the same fire 4 1/2 miles south of Wildrose Sunday and Monday.

According to Chief Larry Sevre, volunteers from Wildrose first responded around 5 p.m. Sunday.

"A combine ignited. I'm not sure if it was the exhaust or what it was, but it started a fire. ... It burned only 10 acres of durum. The rest of it was stubble or grass. It did burn about 10 bales of hay."

At the first fire, Wildrose responded with five trucks and 25 volunteer firefighters. Sevre said he soon called for mutual aid from the Alamo Fire Department, who brought in three more trucks and 15 more firefighters.

All seemed to have calmed down by 7 p.m. when both departments headed home.

Yet, the drama had an even more dangerous replay, this time threatening lives. "At 8:30 p.m., the wind came up, and the flames came up like a big wall of fire," said Sevre. "You could see the fire going in all directions."

This time, he called in mutual aid from Ray and Alamo. All three departments brought in their tankers, because refills of water were obviously necessary.

"The fire threatened the Jim Salveson farmstead," related Sevre. "I actually thought it would get them."

A concerned Severe kept calling the home, but he could not get anyone to respond. "Jim Salveson was away from the farmstead, but his wife, Fay, was home asleep," recalled Sevre. "I kept trying to get ahold of them on the telephone. I didn't know what direction to take. I tried to stay ahead of it...I actually had to drive through a wall of fire to get to them on (North Dakota) Highway 50. I got her out."

It was Mother Nature that saved the farmstead and the Salveson family farm in round two, according to Sevre. "The wind kept fanning it. ...The rain came and finally slowed it enough so we could get it out. We were out fighting it in the lightning and thunder. Firefighters remained at the scene until 1:30 a.m. Monday morning, until the second phase of the fire was out.

This time it claimed at least another 200 acres of grassland and pea stubble.

Most importantly, the Salvesons, their animals and their farm home were safe.

Sevre said phase three of the same fire flared up around 1 p.m. Monday as winds again fueled the same area of fire.

This time, Wildrose volunteers braved the hot spots throughout the day until 7:30 p.m. Monday.

No injuries were reported.

He is quick to praise everyone who helped in the effort.

"I want to thank the Alamo, the Ray and Wildrose fire departments. ...I want to thank God for the rain," Sevre said. "I don't want to go through that again."

CROSBY

Some 600 more acres of durum stubble and prairie grass burned about seven miles southwest of Crosby Sunday afternoon. "The crop was already harvested. It was mostly stubble," said Josh Bummer, assistant chief for the Crosby Fire Department.

Around 3 p.m. Crosby firefighters responded to the scene with six trucks and 10 people. "A combine working in the field started it. It was something in the engine," said Bummer. "It wasn't a terrible wind, but it kept switching directions," Bummer said.

No injuries were reported, and no structures of value were damaged.

"An old wooden grainery burned down, and there were 30 round bales of hay that were destroyed. A lot of it was stubble; it could have been a lot worse," Bummer said.

Mutual aid came from Ambrose with two more trucks and four people, and Fortuna with three trucks and six people.

"Farmers brought their water tankers to help, and we had a couple of local crop dusters spraying water on it. Everything helped," Bummer said.

Firefighters remained at the scene until 9 p.m., six hours of work until it was contained.

However, the Crosby Fire Department was called out again at 10 p.m. Sunday to tend to hot spots. The volunteers had that second round doused around midnight Monday, according to Bummer.

TIOGA

Some 100 acres more burned about two miles south and three miles east of Tioga Saturday afternoon, according to Tioga Assistant Rural Fire Chief Randall Pederson. "Of that 100 acres, about 80 is durum. It was a significant loss being that durum is over $10 per bushel," Pederson said.

At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Tioga Rural Firefighters responded with five fire trucks, one tanker and one commercial tanker. Eighteen firefighters were on the scene.

It was again a combine that triggered the flames in this incident.

"We were there three hours before we felt it was safe to return to home base," he related.

No injuries or major damage resulted from the rural Tioga fire.

WILLISTON

Williston City Fire Chief Alan Hanson has turned a rural fire his crew attended Sunday over to the Williams County Sheriff's Office for investigation. The city fire department responded to the fire in the Ratzak Trailer Park because the rural fire department was tending to a grass fire 10 miles west of Williston where 200 acres burned, along with several hay bays.

At 1:35 p.m. Sunday, the city's full department responded to a shed fire at 1533 50th St. W. A lean-to and two sheds were destroyed in the fire, which started around a storage shed.

Williams County Sheriff Scott Busching is describing the fire as "a set one." He qualified that could be either unintentional with something like a flung cigarette butt, or it could be intentionally set. He is not calling it an arson, something he said would be for profit purposes.

Damage estimate is $3,000. No major injuries occurred at the scene, although a man was administered oxygen and released.

Officials also are investigating the cause of the fire 10 miles west of Williston.