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On Sept. 17, farmer Thad Nearmyer, who lives north of Monroe, was across the road from his house checking pigs for the evening. They have a custom feeding operation. He noticed smoke billowing from the farm yard of his house across the road. He jumped in his truck and hightailed it for home. When he pulled in the drive, he saw flames shooting from the loft of the barn, and heard buzzing. Just then the power lines to the barn dropped to the ground like dead snakes.
He immediately called 911, and within 10 minutes the Monroe Volunteer Fire Department arrived on scene with a pumper followed by a water tanker. They set up a portable water tank, dumped water into it, and began pumping water. Power was cut off to the farm.
Then the Prairie City Volunteer Fire Department arrived with another water tanker, and the two tankers began shuttling water. The portable tank held 2,500 gallons.
Thad’s wife, Jody, was in the house, sick. Thad texted her to see how she was. She said she was throwing up by flashlight.
Thad noticed a couple of the firemen’s coats said "Reasnor." But he knew that some of the firemen belonged to both Monroe and Reasnor fire departments. So he wasn’t sure if Reasnor was on scene or not. The Colfax Volunteer Fire Department was also dispatched, but was canceled en route.
One of the Monroe firemen came up to Thad and asked if he had cattle north of Monroe, because they had just about hit one on the way out. Thad said, yes, he sure did have cattle north of Monroe. So Thad had to leave the fire scene and go check if he had cattle out. It was after dark, and he looked all around as best he could, but could not find any stray cows. He went back to the scene of his barn fire. The fireman who said he had just about hit one asked if Thad had red cattle. Thad said no, that 95 percent of his cattle were black. Thad thought to himself, "What kind of day is this? My wife is sick, my barn is on fire, and my cows may be out. What else can go wrong?"
The barn is still standing, but it’s essentially gutted. The barn wasn’t used for much except storing a few square bales, and nursing a bottle calf. Thad had just fed the barn cats before the fire started. All of them survived just fine, as cats with nine lives will.
An insurance adjuster said Thad might have been better off to let the barn burn. But there was a machine shed too close to the barn, and Thad was afraid it might catch on fire also. He is going to replace the structure with a bigger and better building. He just has to get over the part about liking old barns. Oh, if those old walls could talk.
Thad is a County Supervisor for Jasper County. 14 years ago, Thad had a bad accident where he fell through the roof of a machine shed and crushed his pelvis. He was in Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines for five weeks, and Skiff Medical Center in Newton for three. Because of his experience with a farm accident, the Newton News did a story about Thad’s accident for Farm Safety & Health Week. With a bit of irony, the story came out in the newspaper the week after his farm fire.
His name, Thad, is not short for Thaddeus. Thad’s dad was a big race fan at Knoxville Raceway. Thad is named after Thad Dosher, who won the Nationals the year before Thad was born. Thad has been a race fan forever and has pushed sprint cars for 36 years. Living between Newton and Knoxville gives Thad plenty of race action, in case he has to run to a fire again, he’ll be in good shape.
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Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com. Curt is available for public speaking.