MARSHALL — Marshall firefighters put out a grass fire near the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University on Monday. Fire Chief Quentin Brunsvold said the fire was reported near a retention pond behind the SMSU baseball and soccer fields.

“It was relatively small and confined,” Brunsvold said of the fire. “Luckily, the people that were there at the time did call it in and attempted to put it out.”

Brunsvold said three individuals were fishing at the retention pond at the time the fire was reported.

Emergency responders had to move some athletic equipment like soccer goals to access the area where the fire was, but they were able to extinguish it, Brunsvold said.

Marshall firefighters have not had other grass fire calls within city limits recently. But there have been grass fires reported in Lyon County during the past few weeks, Brunsvold said. Even though the Marshall area has gotten some precipitation, there’s been little snow this winter and overall conditions are still dry.

“Until things start to green up, the fire danger is going to be there,” he said.

Brunsvold said this winter has been unusual for the Marshall Fire Department. The department has kept water in equipment that would normally be drained for the season.

Lyon County and surrounding counties in southwest Minnesota were not part of a Red Flag Warning in place in southeast South Dakota and northwest Iowa on Monday. However, the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls said warmth and dry conditions still posed a fire danger in the area.

More wind and some snow are back in the forecast for Marshall tonight and Wednesday before temperatures rise into the 50s later this week.