Hawarden, Iowa — Residents of an assisted living facility in Hawarden were evacuated and there were some tense moments there on Monday, October 14th.
According to Hawarden Fire Chief Duane Schiefen, a fire call came in at 10:50 a.m. on Monday from Oak Hill Assisted Living. The call mentioned a fire alarm and the smell of smoke in the building.
Schiefen says when the fire department got there, staff had evacuated the building. He says that firefighters found that a furnace motor had locked up, causing the smoke. He says they ventilated the building and looked for any additional hot spots, but found only the furnace motor was hot. He says the damage was limited to the furnace motor itself.
He tells us that a bus was requested from West Sioux Community School District so that the seniors who were able, could board the bus to get out of the wind. But he says it was a pretty nice day, so it wasn’t much of an issue.
The Ireton Fire Department also responds to all possible structure fire calls in Hawarden, so counting all firefighters, Schiefen says about 23 responded to the call and remained on-scene for between a half hour and 45 minutes. He says the Hawarden Ambulance and EMTs also responded to the scene and were available just in case.
