Orange City, Iowa– A dairy barn was damaged in a fire on Sunday night, January 21, 2018 near Orange City.
According to Orange City Fire Chief Denny Vander Wel, about 11:30 p.m., the Orange City Fire Department was called to the report of a dairy barn on fire at 3912 400th Street, four miles north and two miles east of Orange City.
The chief says the fire department saw smoke and flames from the haymow door on the north side of the building as they approached the scene.
He says the farmer noticed the fire and opened the door to the place where the fire is believed to have started. He quickly closed the door and screwed it shut because it was windy and he wanted to prevent the wind from helping the fire spread any further. Vander Wel said that was a very good idea and may have saved the building.
He says the fire did burn a hole in the floor of the haymow and took a couple of bales with it.
Vander Wel says no injuries were reported and there was no livestock loss. He says about 85 head of dairy cattle were in the lean-to attached to the building. He says there was a problem with the cattle however, as they needed to be milked and the fire had damaged the milking equipment. The chief was unsure how that situation turned out.
The fire department was assisted by Hospers Fire Department, who were called for water. But Vander Wel says they didn’t end up needing the extra water.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to be a malfunction in a heat tape for a water line.
Chief Vander Wel reports that there was moderate damage.
He says they used 500 or fewer gallons of water to fight the fire, and the 18 firefighters who responded were on scene until about 1:00 a.m.
