July 09, 2025

Clarke County farmer assists ambulance

Clarke County farmer, Randy Barnard, helped free a West Des Moines UnityPoint ambulance that had become stuck on the muddy gravel road.

The gravel roads have become muddy with all the melting snow and rains early this spring making travel difficult. When an emergency vehicle needed to get through with a non-emergency transport to Des Moines Barnard came out to help, just like he would any neighbor.

With nearly 100 of Clarke County’s 9,000 residents living on gravel roads, it’s nice to see people assisting others when travel becomes too cumbersome. County crews are working to spread rock onto the rural roads, trying to get to the worst ones first. There are over 500 miles of rural roads.

Clarke County advises drivers who are unable to travel on their rural road to contact the Clarke County Engineer.