Rock Valley, Iowa– An estimated quarter of a million dollars in damage was done to a dairy barn in a fire early on Thursday, March 1, 2018 near Rock Valley.
According to Rock Valley Fire Chief Brent Eshuis, a few minutes after midnight, the Rock Valley Fire Department was called to the report of a cattle barn on fire at 1760 300th Street, seven and a half miles west and a mile north of Rock Valley.
The chief says the fire department saw the west end of one of the buildings was on fire as they approached the scene.
He says a tractor had been running a manure pump in that part of the building where the fire started. He says the fire got up into the ceiling before they got there. He says this part of the building is attached to one of the milking parlors, but the milking parlor was not damaged.
Eshuis says this part of the building, where cattle are washed before milking, didn’t have any cattle in it at the time, and no injuries to people or animals were reported.
The fire department was assisted by the Hull; Inwood; and Sioux Center, Iowa fire departments; the Hudson, South Dakota Fire Department; and the Rock Valley Ambulance Squad. He says the Inwood and Hudson Fire Departments provided water and since the roof had started to fail, the Sioux Center Fire Department was a big help with their aerial truck.
He says the cause of the fire is undetermined but it started in the room where the tractor was powering the manure pump.
Chief Eshuis reports that there was at least $250,000 damage.
He says the approximately 50 firefighters who responded were on-scene for about four hours.
