UPDATED: Grass Fire Burns Field Near Menards

UPDATED: 6:10 p.m.

Between 90 and 100 acres of cropland and grass were burned Saturday afternoon in a grass fire on the north end of Dundas near Menards.

responded just after 3:30 p.m. to the fire, which was on the southeast corner of Hwy. 3 and County Road 20, and cleared the scene about 90 minutes later after containing the fire and cleaning up.

Fire Chief Gerry Franek said that nobody was injured and no structures were damaged from the fire.

He said the fire started on the south end of the property after a pit fire burning material was blown into the nearby field by wind, catching corn stalk on fire.

"There's a lot of crop residue," he said. "Once it got into that, it raced across the field with the wind."

Gusts were exceeding 20 mph during that time, according to the National Weather Servic.

The fire briefly crossed Hwy. 3, Franek said. Firefighters were quick to put that part of the fire out, saving the nearby wooded area. Traffic was detoured from Hwy. 3 for about 30 minutes by the Rice County Sheriff's office.

The Faribault Fire Department assisted on the call.

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A grass fire broke out around 3:30 p.m. Saturday on the north end of Dundas near .

The multiple-acre field, located on the southeast corner of Hwy. 3 South and County Road 20, has been burning for about an hour.

The fire is mostly contained, said Northfield Fire Chief Gerry Franek, but firefighters are still putting out hot spots as of 4:30 p.m.

It doesn't appear of structures on the field were damaged.

A Rice County Sheriff's deputy was redirecting southbound traffic until about 4:15 p.m. Northfield Ambulance was also on site.

The cause of the fire has not been released yet.