Camp Luther Escapes Damage After Monday Blaze

RICHLAND - Camp Luther was on the edge of a disaster on Monday after a large blaze burned up a big chunk of land to the southeast of it's border. Columbus Fire officials says they were called into help aid the efforts of Leigh and Schuyler Fire crews, and said the blaze was an Ag interface Fire. CFD says in a Facebook post that these fires are becoming more common with no-till and minimum till farming. Camp Luther Youth Minister Aaron Wendorff said one of his coworkers saw the smoke from the fire first, but said he wasn't worried until he saw it for himself. "I just kind of brushed it off like no big deal, that happens, it's a windy day, and when I came out there, my eyes got kind of big, like whah, okay, that looks a lot closer to camp than I realized," says Wendorff. Wendorff says for precautionary reasons they evacuated the camp, as the spreading fire shifted more towards the direction of camp. "We all left camp for a little bit. Nothing on camp was damaged. Thankful to God for that, and thankful to everyone for praying. You know, all the departments from Columbus, Schuyler, and Leigh, they came together to keep everyone safe.  To our knowledge nobody was injured, and no flame touched camp," said Wendorff. Crews were on the scene of the fire for several hours on Monday and firefighters were able to escape without any injuries, said CFD.