The Vincent Fire Department first received a call about a camper trailer and a machine shed on fire at 1642 Taylor Ave. shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday.

The fire quickly spread to a nearby flatbed trailer and the surrounding grass. Thick, black smoke could be seen from up to five miles away.

Miller initially called the Duncombe Fire Department to come in with water support, but soon he realized they would need more help.

“We got about halfway here and it was going black pretty good, so I called into Badger for water assistance,” he said. “Just because we’re out here, there’s no hydrants.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
A Vincent Fire Department firefighter sprays down a grass fire near 1642 Taylor Ave. in rural Webster County on Sunday afternoon.

Michael Flamme is listed as the property owner on the Webster County Assessor’s website. Flamme passed away on March 15 and, according to Miller, his family had been out on the property cleaning up and burning unwanted items.

The burn piles were left unattended and the fire spread to the camper and machine shed, which were total losses.

“The hardest part about it is there was a lot of ammunition inside that camper,” Miller said. “They warned us as soon as we left that there was ammunition there.”

Despite the added danger, there were no injuries reported.

“There were a couple ‘pops,’ but there was nothing major,” Miller said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Water sprays through the burned-out window of a camper as two Vincent Fire Department firefighters work to extinguish a fire in the camper on Sunday afternoon.

With the help of more than a dozen firefighters from the Vincent, Duncombe and Badger fire departments, the fire was out in less than an hour and did not spread to other buildings on the property.

“They did an awesome attack,” Miller said of his firefighters. “They went in and took care of it right away.”

MidAmerican Energy was also called out to the scene as an electricity pole was damaged in the fire.