Orange City, Iowa — There were a few tense moments at an assisted living facility in Orange City on Monday morning, February 27th, 2023.
According to Orange City Fire Chief Denny Vander Wel, a few minutes before 5:30 a.m., fire crews were called to a report of smoke at Landsmeer Ridge Retirement Community.
He says there was smoke in one of the rooms and in the hallway in one wing of the facility on the west side of the building. He tells us it took firefighters and maintenance personnel some time to find the cause of the smoke. He says they used their thermal imaging equipment to look for hot equipment. Eventually, they found a malfunctioning compressor on a heat pump in the attic of the facility.
He tells us that while they were looking for the issue, staff moved residents of that area to a common room in the front of the facility.
After they found it, they ventilated that wing of the facility to get some fresh air in there and remove the smoke.
He says they were on the scene for about an hour.
