Sanborn, Iowa — Four newer cars and a garage were destroyed in a fire early on Sunday, September 6, 2020, in Sanborn.
According to Sanborn Fire Chief Randy Lyman, about 1:30 a.m., the Sanborn Fire Department was called to the report of a car and garage fire at 208 Carroll Street, in central Sanborn.
The chief says the fire department saw the garage totally engulfed in flame as they approached the scene. He says there were four newer cars parked around the garage, and they were all on fire as well.
Lyman says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire is officially undetermined, but they’re looking seriously at the battery in one of the cars, a BMW, and thinking maybe a short circuit could have started the fire.
Chief Lyman reports that the four newer vehicles, including one 2020 model, plus the garage and its contents, including two freezers, a lawnmower, a motor bike, and a number of tools were all destroyed. Lyman says the homeowner estimates the damage to the vehicles could exceed $65,000, with the garage being worth about $10,000. Also, siding on a neighbor’s house was melted.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene until about 4:10 a.m.
However, while they had checked for embers around surrounding properties before they left, about ten minutes after they got back to the station, they were paged again to the home to the north. He says an ember must have gotten wedged between boards of the deck of the home, and they had to dismantle the deck a little to get that fire out.
Lyman says they actually had a little more trouble getting to the original fire. He says their Engine 13 wouldn’t start, so they took a backup rig that had a separate engine for the pump. BUT, the pump engine wouldn’t start on that unit, so they ended up starting to fight the fire with their quick attack unit and a tanker. He says repairs were made, and both trucks are back in service.
