Sioux Center, Iowa — A few tense moments were reported at Dordt University during a fire call on Friday, April 7, 2023, in Sioux Center.
According to Sioux Center Fire Chief David Van Holland, at about 4:30 p.m., the Sioux Center Fire Department was called to a smoke report at Dordt University in Sioux Center.
The chief says a belt on a motor on the roof of the Dordt Rec Center had burned off and that caused the smoke, which he says entered the ventilation system and caused smoke throughout the two-story building.
Van Holland says no injuries were reported.
He tells us the Ireton Fire Department and Sioux Center Fire Department respond to each other’s calls now in addition to their own, so the Ireton firefighters provided some help too.
Chief Van Holland reports that there was minimal damage.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for about an hour.
But Van Holland also has a message for people driving in Sioux Center during the construction on Highway 75 or Main Avenue through the city. He says during some of the construction process, traffic will be down to two lanes, with no room on either side to pull over. He says this is a concern to emergency responders, as the good people of Sioux Center and northwest Iowa as a whole are conditioned to pull over and stop for emergency vehicles. But, says Van Holland, in an area where there is no room to pull over, it’s best for vehicles to just continue at the normal traffic pace, rather than to stop. He says Sioux Center firefighters were responding to a recent emergency and firefighters had to get out of the truck to ask a driver ahead of them to please keep going and not to stop in the lane of travel.
He says they’ll try to remember to keep their flashing lights going but turn off their sirens in the construction zone so people don’t get the idea that they have to stop. He says if there’s an emergency vehicle behind you and there’s no place to pull over and get out of their way — please keep going.
