Extremely dry conditions have caused wild fires to burn thousands of acres across the state in recent weeks.
Last week, had it not been for the quick actions of several neighbors, another such fire could have happened close to Elgin.
Val Hoefer told the Elgin Review that catastrophe was was averted Wednesday evening, April 22. Due to high winds and extremely warm temperatures, conditions were perfect for a potential fire. She said power lines dancing in the winds threw sparks which ignited dry grass in the ditch behind a hill a half a mile from her home.
“I never saw it (the fire) but I could smell it,” Mrs. Hoefer said in a telephone interview.
At the same time, neighbor Dale Schindler and another man did see the fire from their location nearly a mile away.
Moments later the fire was called into the Elgin Volunteer Fire Department who responded to the fire. Before firefighters arrived, neighbors did their part to put out the fire as fast as they could. Hoefer said Schindler responded by first calling Rick and Bob Hoefer. Each responded, Rick with a Bobcat and Bob with a spade while Dale attacked the fire with a Payloader, dropping dirt as the fire moved down the fence line burning just the dry grass.
Had the fire gotten to the other side of the ditch it could have spread into a pasture and could have affected several nearby homes, but that didn’t happen.
Neighbor helping neighbor, that’s what the good folks of Elgin are all about.
