Ocheyedan, Iowa — A house was destroyed in a fire on Thursday, April 13, 2017 near Ocheyedan.
According to Ocheyedan Fire Chief Dan Hartwig, about 5:35 PM, the Ocheyedan Fire Department was called to the report of a structure fire at 6471 190th Street, two and a half miles south and a mile east of Ocheyedan.
The chief says the fire department saw the garage was destroyed and the house was mostly consumed as well as they approached the scene. He says they used water to fight the fire.
He says the house had been vacant, and the fire went unnoticed until it was too late to save much of anything. He says the windy conditions also fed the fire.
The Melvin Fire Department was called for mutual aid assistance and brought extra water.
Hartwig says the cause of the fire appeared to be electrical in nature in the garage.
Chief Hartwig says it wasn’t an old house and guessed it was probably built in the 1980s. He says the house and garage were totaled and estimates that there was about $60,000 damage.
Hartwig says no injuries were reported.
He says they used about 16,000 gallons of water to fight the fire, and crews were on scene for over three hours, until about 9:10 p.m.
