Hospers, Iowa — A semi-trailer and its contents were damaged in a fire on Thursday, February 22, 2024, near Hospers.
According to Hospers Fire Chief Jason Overmole, just before 2:00 p.m., the Hospers Fire Department was called to the report of a semi with a wheel on fire about a mile and a half south of Hospers on Highway 60.
The chief says the fire department saw moderate smoke as they approached the scene. He says shortly after they arrived the tire exploded. The chief tells us they used water and foam to fight the fire.
Overmole says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by Granville as per their auto-aid agreement.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to be mechanical in nature — probably a brake failure.
Chief Overmole reports that there was moderate damage. He says some of the contents — processed pork from a packing plant, packed in cardboard boxes — also got hot enough to ignite.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for about an hour and a half. He says the fire was knocked down fairly quickly, but they were kept busy with traffic control while law enforcement arrived and worked on the scene.
