Inwood, Iowa — Two buildings were destroyed in a fire on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, near Inwood.
According to Inwood Fire Chief Troy Van Beek, at about 12:10 p.m., the Inwood Fire Department was called to the report of a structure fire at 2051 Chestnut Avenue, two and a half miles north of Inwood on Highway 182.
The chief says the fire department saw two buildings on fire as they approached the scene. He says they used a defensive attack as the buildings — a grainery and a garden shed — weren’t worth saving when they got there, so they focused on preventing damage to other buildings and property.
Van Beek says no injuries were reported.
The fire department was assisted by Larchwood firefighters.
He says the cause of the fire appeared to be a burn pile fire that went out of control.
Chief Van Beek reports that the buildings were destroyed, plus windows on the house were melted in the blaze as well.
He says the firefighters who responded were on the scene for about two hours.
Northwest Iowa firefighters were busy on Wednesday.
The Ireton Fire Department responded to a pickup on fire at 4546 Elmwood Avenue on Wednsesday morning. Fire Chief Rich Stekelburg says they arrived to find flames coming from the hood. The cause is undetermined he says. The older pickup was destroyed in the fire, and firefighters remained on the scene for about a half an hour.
Later that day, shortly after 1:00 p.m., the Ashton Fire Department was paged to 2459 Monroe Avenue for a controlled burn out of control. Fire Chief Andy Gacke says a fire pit fire went out of control and burned three or four trees and some grassland. Fire crews were there for about an hour and a half.
We also received word of several other minor fires on Wednesday and Thursday.
