BROWN COUNTY — Firefighters in New Ulm and Sleepy Eye were busy battling nine fires since last week.

Sleepy Eye Fire Chief Aaron Schauman said his fire department has responded to six fire calls since March 13.

“We’ve been crazy busy over the past week. We did a wonderful job. We’re lucky to have the crew we have. That’s for sure,” Schauman said.

“It’s winter time. Lots of people use fireplaces and pits. It’s that time of year,” said Schuaman.

New Ulm Fire Chief Paul Macho said his department has responded to three grass fires since March 12.

“I’m guessing the fire began because its dry and people are careless. Let’s hope we get a couple inches of rain now. That would help a lot,” said Macho.

No injuries were reported by both fire departments.

On March 13, Sleepy Eye firefighters responded at 10:43 p.m. to railroad ties burning near CR 27 and 280th Street northwest of the Sleepy Eye Golf Club. Five fire trucks were called to the blaze.

“I’m not sure how the fire began, but lots of railroad ties burned,” said Schauman.

Firefighters responded to a chimney fire at 2:42 p.m. March 18 at 23378 Hillcrest Dr., Home Township.

“We saw the chimney on fire, went inside and didn’t see anything else burning. The fire spread into the attic. We cut a hole in the roof to put the fire out. We held the fire to half of the top floor with all six trucks,” Schauman said.

He said the home had heavy damage. The New Ulm Fire Department provided a water tanker.

“We were there until 6:05 p.m. There was lots of smoke. We went out there again Tuesday morning when the fire reignited when some debris fell. We were there for about an hour,” Schauman said.

Firefighters returned to the residence at 8:45 a.m. March 19 and remained there for an hour or two extinguishing a couple hot spots. Schauman said a fire place wall was cut apart by firefighters.

“An insurance investigator said the fire was an accident,” said Schauman.

Firefighters sent five trucks to a fire at 6:10 p.m. Wednesday near the State Highway 4 Big Cottonwood River Bridge several miles south of Sleepy Eye.

“Workers were cutting down trees for the bridge replacement project. A big pile of wood chips self combusted. It was leaning heavily when we got there. We spread it (the wood chip pile) out and extinguished it,” Schauman said.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is resurfacing 25 miles of TH 4 and replacing three bridges between Sleepy Eye and St. James this summer. Traffic will be detoured on Brown County Highway 8, TH 30 and Watonwan County Roads 32 and 3.

Sleepy Eye firefighters provided a grass rig and water tank fire truck to a grass fire reported at 5:37 p.m. Tuesday near the 25000 block of CR 11, Milford Township. Sleepy Eye firefighters were on scene until 7:40 p.m.

Chief Macho said his department sent a grass rig, rural tanker and rural pumper to the grass fire and battled a 20 mph wind for about two hours.

On Monday, New Ulm firefighters sent the same three vehicles to a fire reported at 2:24 a.m. near the KC Road and 180th Avenue, several miles northwest of New Ulm. Firefighters spent two and one-half hours at the fire that burned grass and trees.

On March 12, New Ulm firefighters battled a fire reported at 12:30 a.m. on Nicollet CR 21, near the Harkin Store that burned grass, trees and stumps.

Sleepy Eye firefighters responded to a report of wood crates burning several miles northeast of Sleepy Eye at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday. All five trucks were called and remained on scene until 5:30 p.m.