Orange City, Iowa — Three northwest Iowa fire departments was were dispatched to a fire call on Tuesday morning, August 15, 2017 near Orange City, but they didn’t exactly find what they were expecting.
According to Orange City Fire Chief Denny VanderWel, about 7:10, the Orange City Fire Department was called to the report of a house fire a half mile south of Ironwood Avenue and 490th Street, or about a mile northwest of Carnes.
But the chief says instead of seeing a house engulfed in flames when they arrived, the fire department saw a pile of debris on fire that had been a house at one time. He says a hole had been dug, and the house debris had been pushed into it and had been lit on fire to dispose of it. He says the fire had gotten out of control and was threatening trees and other property, so they did extinguish it.
VanderWel says no injuries were reported.
He says they initially called out the Maurice and LeMars Fire Departments as well, since it was paged as a house fire.
Chief VanderWel reports that since the house was already intentionally destroyed, there was no fire damage.
He says they used about 4000 gallons of water to fight the fire, and crews were on scene about an hour.
