Wheat harvest lightning strike

Harvest is always an exciting time, but we had more excitement than we wanted last night.  A lightning strike ignited wheat stubble adjacent to yet-to-be-harvested wheat.  The harvest crew immediately called for the fire trucks, but with the wind blowing 50mph Mark decided to cut a fire break with the combine. One of the guys took the picture below which was published on the Channel 12 KWCH “storm shots” web page.  Thanks to Mark’s fire break, favorable wind direction and a prompt response by the Sterling Volunteer Fire Department everything turned out OK.

20110616_combine_cutting_fire_break