Health problems reported from smoky monthlong fire in Tipton County

WINDFALL, Ind. (AP) — About 20 people reported various health problems from a fire inside a pile of straw and corncobs that blanketed a central Indiana town with heavy smoke for nearly a month.

Residents from the Tipton County town of Windfall who filed complaints with county health officials cited problems that included headaches, nausea, vomiting, nose bleeds and difficulty breathing.

The smoky blaze was first reported Dec. 16 on land leased by Simpson Straw and burned for nearly a month inside the 30-foot-tall pile before crews were able to put out the fire. The heavy smoke forced some of the town’s roughly 700 residents out of their homes for a time.

Windfall is about an hour’s drive north of downtown Indianapolis.