Northwest Iowa — A couple of incidents in northwest Iowa on Wednesday night and Thursday morning (December 21st and 22nd) could easily have turned into house fires.
The Wednesday night incident occurred in the 8:00 p.m. hour at 405 Eigth Avenue in Sibley, according to Sibley Fire Chief Kenny Huls. Huls says a younger family member was babysitting and smelled smoke. He says she opened the basement door and was met with a large plume of smoke. Grandparents were called and checked it out, finding the smoke coming from the water heater area of the basement, he says. The chief says they immediately called 911.
He says firefighters investigated and found that the lower element of the electric water heater had shorted, which started the insulation on fire. Fortunately, says Huls, the metal containment of water heater kept the fire inside, and it was only smoldering when they got there. He says firefighters shut off the power, and vented the smoke with fans. He says he estimates there was $500 damage to the water heater and very little if any smoke damage.
A similar fire call happened in Rock Valley on Thursday morning, according to Rock Valley Chief Brent Eshuis.
He says their fire department was called to a report of smoke in the basement as well. Eshuis says the report turned out to be a hot smell coming from an electric space heater that was connected to the electric system in the basement. He says they disconnected it from the system, and were on-scene for 15 to 20 minutes.
