This week is Farm Safety Week, coming at the same time as harvest. Keeping alert and being careful are the catch phrases for this week. However one problem that can crop up during harvest time following a drought year is fire danger in rural areas. Iowa State University Extension Ag Engineer Kris Kohl says making sure debris is cleared off farm equipment is a good preventative step.
He says following a series of rural fires in 2012, ISU extension worked with Northwest Iowa Fire Departments and did a study on rural fires. Kohl says they found out when winds exceeded 20 miles per hour, that increased the fire danger while temperatures and humidity weren’t as important factors.
Kohl says farmers must keep those combines clean especially on days when 20 mile per hour and plus winds are occurring.
Kohl recommends producers have a disk attached to a large tractor rather than water to battle any potential fire out in the fields.
ISU Extension Ag Engineer Kris Kohl.
