Prairie fire torches 2,000 acres Monday

Posted 3/14/12 (Wed)

More than 50 firefighters from Mercer and Oliver counties responded to a grass fire that consumed an estimated 2,000 acres Monday afternoon just east of Hazen.
According to Hazen Fire Chief Dan Wettstein, Hazen firefighters responded to reports of a grass fire near the Mercer County Regional Airport just after 1 p.m. Monday. The fire appeared to start in a manure pile that Wettstein guessed self-combusted near Keith and Marsha Schneider’s residence about a mile-and-a-half east of Hazen.