Orange City, Iowa — A newer car was destroyed in a fire on Monday, January 20, 2020, near Orange City.
According to Orange City Fire Chief Denny Vander Wel, about 3:20 p.m., the Orange City Fire Department was called to the report of a car fire about a mile south of Highway 10 and Albany Avenue.
The chief says the fire department saw flames coming from the hood as they approached the scene. He says they used water to fight the fire.
According to Vander Wel, the 2015 Volvo had been remotely started by the driver who was at work at Staples Promotional Products. He says she noticed it was running faster than it should. She drove it, but it didn’t drive normally. About a half mile later it stalled and soon there was smoke and fire.
Vander Wel says no injuries were reported.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to be a malfunction, probably electrical.
Chief Vander Wel reports that the car was totaled as the flames even got into the passenger compartment. He estimated the value to be around $15,000.
He says the 12 firefighters who responded were on the scene for about 45 minutes.
Then, as they were on their way back to the station, they got another call — a call for mutual aid on a house fire in Le Mars. Vander Wel reports that of the eight firefighters who went on to that call, six of them participated in an interior fire attack. He says Le Mars Fire Chief David Schipper reports that damage was about $65,000 on the house. Vander Well tells us they were out of town for about two hours on that one. He says members of the Merrill Fire Department covered the Le Mars Fire Station in case any other fire calls would have come in.
