Moneta, Iowa — A school that hasn’t been used in several decades was damaged in a fire on Thursday, September 5, 2019, in the unincorporated town of Moneta, which is three miles south and five miles east of Hartley.
According to Hartley Fire Chief Brad Meendering, just before 10:00 a.m., the Hartley Fire Department was called to the report of the roof on fire at the Moneta School.
The chief says the fire department saw that one corner of the flat roof was on fire as they approached the scene. He says they were told that a nearby controlled burn of debris got out of hand, the school started on fire, and the fire department was called. He tells us that firefighters removed a portion of the ceiling in the old locker room to get at the area that was burning. After putting out the fire at the school building, he says they put out the controlled fire as well.
Meendering says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by Everly firefighters.
Chief Meendering reports that there was no real damage, as the building had been abandoned several years ago and had fallen into disrepair.
He says the 14 Hartley and five Everly firefighters who responded were on the scene for about an hour.
