The dry weather and strong winds of the past few weeks have caused multiple fires in the local area, including 4 fires in just the past 2 days. On Thursday firefighters battled a grass fire on Brown County Road 29 near Evan and a field fire on County Road 10 near Sleepy Eye. On Wednesday a combine caught fire near Highway 19 between Fairfax and Franklin, and there was a cornfield fire just south of Gibbon. There were also field fires near Gaylord on Wednesday, Courtland on Tuesday and Le Sueur on Monday, and 2 more near New Ulm the previous week. Many of these fires did involve combines, with causes varying from wiring issues to blades striking rocks and causing sparks.