Inwood, Iowa — If you have a house that has a light switch that seems to control nothing — it might be best to investigate, or just leave it turned off.
That was the situation a few days ago in an Inwood home, according to Inwood Fire Chief Troy Van Beek. He says no one in the house knew what the switch was for, and so they turned it on a few days ago. Then Sunday night, a little before 11 p.m., there was smoke coming from their attic, so they called the fire department.
Van Beek says the firefighters did find smoldering insulation in the attic and a charred rafter. He says they dumped the smoldering insulation out of the attic and poured some water on the rafter. He says they eventually found the culprit — a hidden, unused light fixture under the insulation, that apparently went live when someone turned on the switch.
He says there was very minimal damage, but had no one been home to notice the smoke, the situation could have turned out differently.
Van Beek says the Larchwood and Inwood fire departments respond together to structure fire calls in both towns, so there were some Larchwood firefighters there for a short time. He says the Inwood firefighters were there for about an hour and a half.
