Sibley, Iowa — A house was damaged in a fire early on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, in Sibley.
According to Sibley Fire Chief Ken Huls, at about 3:40 a.m., the Sibley Fire Department was called to the report of a house fire at 1001 8th Street in Sibley.
The chief says the fire department saw smoke coming from the basement as they approached the scene. He says when they got there, it looked like a fire in the basement, but they saw a burning log outside. He says the smoke detectors woke the occupants. Huls says they opened the front door to find the house full of smoke. He says they found the bulk of the fire in the basement and after about 10 minutes they were able to knock it down. It looked like a pile of clothes was on fire in the basement. An Osceola County Sheriff’s Deputy says he found flame by a log next to basement window. He says he got that put out with a fire extinguisher, but then discovered the broken basement window. Huls says upon investigation, the man living there had apparently opened the bedroom window and had thrown a lit cigarette out the window, which landed on the log and smoldered into fire in the wind. The heat of the fire broke the window, and that’s how the embers were blown inside.
Huls says all the floor joists were charred, and there was significant damage in the basement.
Huls says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by the Ashton Fire Department. Little Rock was also paged, but Huls says they were told en route that they could disregard.
Chief Huls reports that there was between $100,000 and $150,000 damage
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene until about 4:45 a.m..
