A combine and header were destroyed by fire before sunrise Tuesday, according to Mark Reed, chief of the Pawnee Rock Volunteer Fire Department. The fire was called in at 5:51 a.m., with a call to the Great Bend Fire Department for mutual aid at 5:52 a.m. The GBFD was first on the scene in the vicinity of SW 90 Ave. and SW 10 Road and did the majority of the extinguishing.

Nine firefighters from the Pawnee Rock department arrived with the brush truck, tanker and privately owned vehicles, Reed said. The fire destroyed a CASE IH 8240 combine and a MacDon FD75 header. A tractor and grain cart as well as two semis were within sight of the fire but were never threatened by the blaze. After the fire was extinguished, the volunteer firefighters continued to cool everything off with water to make sure the fire did not reignite and embers did not spread in the strong winds. Reed said he left the scene shortly before 8 a.m.

It was unclear how the fire started. No one was there when the firefighters arrived to find the combine burning in the middle of a field of milo stubble. Reed said his next step would be to check with 911 dispatch to learn who the owner was.