What started as a ditch burn spiraled out of control on Hayes Avenue, turning into a field fire that ravaged most of the property’s 80 acres west of Fort Dodge Tuesday afternoon.

Barnum Fire Department responded to a call at 1637 Hayes Ave. at approximately 2:45 p.m. Residents Joyce and Rich Lennon said the burn started as a way to help clear the ditch of litter.

“The wind just picked it up and changed it,” Rich Lennon said, estimating an hour after it started that about 65-70 acres had been affected. “Fortunately, the fields around us were plowed.”

The fire quickly gained a charge, producing a plume visible from miles away.

He said the field, used for the Conservation Reserve Program, was planned to have prescribed burns in October and again this spring.