Firefighters quell Little Flock grass fire
Posted on Tuesday, December 13, 2005
ROGERS — Dozens of acres burned in a Monday afternoon grass fire in Little Flock and Rogers, threatening nearby homes and cattle.
Little Flock firefighters responded to a fire report on pastures near Stratton Road just west of Arkansas Highway 94 at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, according to Little Flock Police Chief Justin Mc-Carver, who was also on the scene.
Officials believe the fire started accidentally when someone emptied ashes from a fire or wood-burning stove onto a brush pile. "They probably thought the ashes were completely out," McCarver said.
However, wind gusts Monday afternoon most likely rekindled the ashes, he said.
Although the fire started out small, wind gusts quickly expanded the blaze, and crews had to put down a fire line to keep the fire from a nearby row of houses to the east. "They never lost control of it or anything," McCarver said. "I’m not an expert, but with the wind and such a large area, it was a crazy fire."
One Little Flock firefighter was hospitalized for smoke inhalation but was immediately released.
Although the fire started within the Little Flock city limits, it moved south, prompting a response by more than a dozen Rogers firefighters. Personnel from Avoca and Pea Ridge also assisted.
Rogers Deputy Fire Chief Allan Skogan emphasized that no one should be burning material of any kind at this time of year. "With our dry conditions, we aren’t allowing any burn-offs right now," he said.
By 2:30, the fire had blackened dozens of acres of dry pastureland. Fire crews felled nearby trees that were raining sparks down onto the grass, threatening to re-ignite the fire, and there were still faint plumes of smoke from hundreds of cow pies smoldering in the fields.
Norma Finn, who lives off North Eighth Street one field away from the fire, said she was shocked when she came back from her grocery shopping Monday afternoon. "I turned a corner and saw all the smoke and about had a heart attack," she said.
Rogers fire crews were waiting near her yard to see if the flames would cross the city limits, and Finn said they helped her move her cows to a nearby pasture away from the blaze.
The last firefighters left the scene around 5 p.m. There was no immediate estimate of how many acres had burned or who owned the property.
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