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Covering Dallas, Monmouth, Independence, Falls City and surrounding areas since 1868
POLK COUNTY -- Firefighters responded first to an accident at Independence State Airport the morning of Saturday, Aug. 28, that saw a runaway plane crash into a ditch.
Almost immediately afterward and less than a mile to the west, Polk County Fire District No. 1 battled a fire that charred five acres of farmland.
The plane call occurred at 9:15 a.m., beginning nearthe airstrip, Polk Fire Chief Jason Cane said.
Cane said a pilot had been working on his plane when the throttle became stuck. The plane rolled about 50 feet from the strip across Airport Road and slammed nosefirst into a ditch with the man still in it.
Cane said there were no injuries but fuel spilled onto the road, which necessitated a cleanup by a Salem hazardous material team. The fire district could not provide the name of the owner or model of the plane by press time.
At about 11:30 a.m., firefighters were called out to a fire on a wheat stubble field just north of the Hoffman Road intersection with 16th Street.
Cane said a tractor working on the site somehow caught fire. The operator managed to extinguish his vehicle before Polk No. 1 arrived, but not before flames spread across five acres.
Dallas Fire Department and Southwest Polk County Fire District assisted in containing the two-alarm blaze.
