Racine County fire destroys 7 to 10 acres of wheat
TOWN OF YORKVILLE, Wis. (AP) — A fire in a Racine County wheat field has destroyed seven to 10 acres of crop.
The fire was reported Friday afternoon in the Town of Yorkville. Fire officials say by the time firefighters arrived, six to seven acres of mostly unharvested crop were ablaze.
A Journal Times of Racine report says about 30 firefighters battled the flames for 90 minutes before extinguishing the fire.
Tim Allen is an assistant chief with the Union Grove-Yorkville Fire Department.
He says the fire began as workers were harvesting the crop.
He says plant matter sometimes gets stuck in a combine and overheats. He speculates that the combine shot out some smoldering bits of chaff onto the dry field, igniting the fire.
Yorkville is about 10 miles west of Racine.
