Rock Rapids, Iowa — A garage and its contents were damaged in a fire on Thursday, March 22, 2018, in Rock Rapids.
According to Rock Rapids Fire Chief Ed Reck, about 7:00 p.m., the Rock Rapids Fire Department was called to the report of a garage fire at 1010 South Second Avenue in Rock Rapids, on the west side of town. Reck says since the firefighters were already at the station when the call came in, preparing to do some training at the elevator, response time was very short. He says that it was good that it was because if it had taken them even a few more minutes to get there, the fire would have been much worse.
The chief says the fire department saw flames coming out of the garage as they approached the scene. He says they extinguished the fire with water. According to the chief, the garage had been used for storage, but a number of items were pulled out of the garage before the fire could harm them, including an ATV. He says the garage is attached to the house but has no access directly to the house — a fact that turned out in their favor this time, as the house did not sustain any smoke or other damage.
Reck says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire is believed to have been electrical in nature but he says it is under investigation.
Chief Reck reports that there was fairly extensive damage.
He says they used 500 or fewer gallons of water to fight the fire, and the 23 firefighters who responded were on scene for about a half an hour.
