Lake City, Iowa — The state fire marshal believes a malfunctioning fan sparked this past week’s fire that destroyed a western Iowa business that makes pipe organs for churches and colleges worldwide.
Lake City Fire Chief Lynn Boyd says the steel building was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived and the fire was already starting to head down the east side of the old building.
The fire spread rapidly and, according to Boyd, there were several factors that contributed to the speed and ferocity of this blaze. He says there was a lot of flammable material including kiln-dried wood and chemicals.
Boyd says six of his firefighters stayed at the scene all night as the rubble that is all that remains of the business smoldered well into the late morning. The only other damage reported was to the roof of the adjacent community building.
A spokesperson for Dobson says the entire team is devastated and heartbroken. The company thanked firefighters from Lake City and six surrounding communities for the quick response and their attempts to save the pipe organ that was being built for a historic church in Sydney, Australia.
Dobson managers met to assess where their next steps may be. Lynn A. Dobson, who founded the company in 1974, retired early last year. In addition to building and installing new pipe organs around the world, the company performs maintenance on about 12 dozen pipe organs in the Midwest.
A hopeful message is posted on Dobson’s Facebook page from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 in the Bible: “We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
