Orange City, Iowa — A fire reported by a passerby destroyed a manufacturing facility near Orange City Wednesday night.
The blaze at Keizer Aluminum Wheels Company, located north of Orange City on Jackson Avenue, was reported at 9:35 Wednesday evening. Keizer manufactures high-performance aluminum wheels, primarily for race cars.
Orange City Fire Chief Denny Vander Wel says he isn’t certain as to what may have caused the fire, but he estimates damage to be in excess of four million dollars with the building and manufacturing contents all destroyed.
Several area fire departments were involved in the effort, and according to Vander Wel, many of those departments’ tanker trucks made at least ten trips to ferry water to the scene of the fire. He estimates as much as 50,000 gallons of water was used to battle the fire.
In addition, an excavator was used to remove debris to give firefighters access to hot spots.
Vander Wel says the manufacturing facility was destroyed and its roof collapsed due to the fire.
Orange City firefighters were assisted at the scene by the Boyden, Hull, Hospers, Maurice, Alton and Sioux Center Fire Departments, as well as the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office, Orange City Police Department and Northwest REC.
