Marshall County Emergency Management Director Kim Elder said 50 firefighters from six departments – Albion, Marshalltown, State Center, Liscomb, Haverhill and Clemons – responded to a series of blazes, as well as law enforcement. Elder was on scene for two hours.

“With this weather, the high winds and low humidity, the long grass and dry areas, it would not have taken much at all for this to spread farther,” she said. “I can’t say enough about those who responded, 90 percent of whom are volunteers.”

As of 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, Elder said most of the fires were extinguished, but a few were being allowed to burn out. The radio system Elder utilizes was being updated by RACOM, so she did not have the most efficient communication. All of the information she received was given to her via telephone.

Kara Wildman, 41, owner of Happy Tails, could see the blazes from every north-facing window of her home last night. Due to the varied locations where they started, she wonders if it was intentional.

A fire blazes near Albion Monday night. Fifty fire fighters from six departments in Marshall County responded.

“I do not think this was natural,” she said. “Not so many fires in so many directions. Nothing could have set off random locations like that. There were just fire in so many directions.”

Elder said there is always a concern a fire is intentional, especially when there are random locations such as Monday night.

“That is being looked at. Nothing is off the table,” Elder said.

Albion Fire Department Assistant Chief Ryan McRill said the activity Monday night was definitely more than what would be considered usual.

“There are a few red flags, but I am not going to say it is or is not suspicious,” he said.

State Center Fire Chief Brad Pfantz said the fires were suspicious. He and 10 other fighters from his department, along with five vehicles, were on scene five hours last night and another two hours early Tuesday morning.

“They are suspicious because there were three large fires occurring in a short time. I can’t say that was natural,” Pfantz said.

Wildman stressed she never saw anybody who could have started the fires, and she added she was operating on five hours of sleep. Her family thought briefly about evacuating their house, but decided against it as they have goats, dogs and cats.

“We thought it would be better if we were here so we could take care of our animals,” Wildman said.

There was not a lot of smoke engulfing the Wildman property, so she said the animals were relatively calm. This was not the first fire experience for the Wildmans. Two years ago, she said her car caught fire in their driveway, just feet away from the propane tank. Knowing the previous fire traumatized her children, Wildman did her best to keep them calm.

“They have been through the car fire, the tornado, the derecho and now maybe intentional fires,” she said. “They have been through enough.”

Check back for more information as it’s released from the Marshalltown Fire Department.