As drought conditions worsen across the state, we are starting to see the effects in more than some farmers' yields. Over the weekend, dry conditions illustrated that as a small grass fire spread through hundreds of acres.

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It was a busy weekend for firefighters across Iowa. Over in Muscatine County on Friday, high winds turned a small hay fire into a seven-hour ordeal damaging and destroying farm buildings, equipment, and fields.

Then on Sunday, another fire broke out on the western side of the state that was double the size.

Over in Montgomery County, firefighters arrived at a scene of what they expected to be a small ditch fire. Brian Hamman, Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator, tells Radio Iowa that this didn’t end up being the case.

Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency via Facebook
Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency via Facebook
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Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency via Facebook
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Within a matter of two to three minutes, the fire grew to the point where it was running north and there was no way to stop it. At that point, we made the decision to start evacuating homes and call for additional mutual aid resources to the scene.

By the time the first fire engine arrived at the scene, farmers were already trying to cut fire breaks.

Overall, over 12 dozen firefighters, five dozen engines, and 18 area departments were fighting the massive fire alongside a dozen or so farmers.

I can’t stress enough how beneficial it is to have the farmers out there with us with tractors and discs, happy to help, happy to put their machinery at risk for us and for their neighbors, because, honestly, it was the tractors and discs that saved the western part of the county.

Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency via Facebook
Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency via Facebook
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Overall the fire in Montgomery County consumed 750 acres.

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